Evil Salvation
by LKHanamura
Summary: Itachi and Kagome have been bonded together. Durring their quest to find a way to break it, they fall in love with each other. But will the Shikon No Tama let her have her happy ending? Or is she destined never to see Itachi again?
1. Chapter 1

Itachi glared as he once again squared off with Orochimaru. While Itachi himself had barely worked up a sweat, Orochimaru was dripping with it. "Back down Orochimaru. You are no match for me. Every since you left the Akatsuki you have grown weaker not stronger. I am sure even Naruto would be able to beat you as you are now."

Orochimaru smiled as he forced himself not to shake as he stood up. Cursing himself for not trying to influence Itachi as a boy. He was strong now and would continue to grow in strength. He knew that he was not going to win if the fight went on like it is now. But he had a different plan. And Itachi was right where he wanted him.

Orochimaru laughed as he made the sign of the tiger. "You may be strong and you are smart. But my dear Itachi. Not smart enough."

Itachi glared at him when he saw the smoke start to form around them. "My Sharingan is much stronger than you give it credit for Orochimaru. A simple smoke screen won't hinder what I can do to you with it. You won't even be able to hide. Remember I am stronger than Sasuke."

Orochimaru smiled as he watched Itachi vanish in the smoke. 'It won't matter how strong you are where you are going. You won't be here to stop me when I crush the Akatsuki. And then the Hidden Leaf!' He then went through some more hand signs and then smiled. "Set."

When Itachi heard him say set he brought out his Sharingan. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

Seeing the barrier start to morph behind him Orochimaru laughed as he pulled kunai that had a note attached to it and threw it at Itachi as he jumped back through he barrier and landed on the edge of the cliff. "What will you do now Itachi? You are being sucked into another time and you don't even know it. And how sad you are linked to a rather weak girl. Sayonara!"

Itachi heard the kunai coming through the smoke and blocked it with ease. He glanced down and saw his name connected to it with a note. 'What is he doing?' He bent down and lifted the note and started to open it.

Inside he found the picture of a young girl. Then he read the note and his anger grew.

"Itachi,

I know that you won't want to believe this but it is true. The smoke you are in is sending you to a different time. A different dimension. So you see you fool, it was not to hide from your Sharingan. It was to get rid of you!

There is a way to come back if you wanted to try it though. The girl in the picture her name is Kagome Higurashi and she travels through time in that dimension. Find her and learn her secret which will be no easy task. Oh, I almost forgot. Your life and hers are bound. I used a forbidden jutsu, and now you are bound to each other until you can figure out how to stop the jutsu. Meaning, if she dies then you will die as well in the same manner. "

Itachi looked at the picture and then back to the note with a glare. 'This has to be a bad joke. There is no way that he knows how to send someone through time.' He then looked up and charged in the direction that he was the last time he saw him only to stop with wide eyes and a gasp. He should have been on a cliff overlooking a valley of rocks. Instead he found himself on a small bluff looking out over a meadow. That was when his throat constricted.

He looked down at the note and picture in his hand and glared. 'He has done it. That bastard! I will do what I must to get back to the right time and then I will see his death in the worse possible way.'

Looking back out he saw a small farm and then set out toward it. He didn't know what or who was in this time and dimension. So he knew he had to find her and see what he could do to get it broke. Before something happened to her.

x

Kagome walked next to Sango with her arms crossed. The glare on her face caused Inuyasha to stay in the far back walking with Miroku and Shippo. She still couldn't believe that it has been over a year now since Koga kidnapped her and he still got all pissy when she would talk to him! "How dare he. I don't hate the wolf and I won't write him off cause Inuyasha doesn't like him. I am not property."

Sango sighed as she looked over at Kagome. "You know how he gets when it comes to Koga Kagome. Can't you just overlook it?"

Kagome gave Sango a mock glare as she humphed. "I could but it will just keep happening. And it isn't like he stops what I want him to stop. He will always sneak away when he thinks he can to go and see Kikyo. So why should I stop talking to Koga?"

Inuyasha was still a little scared of Kagome right now but when he heard her compare him going to see Kikyo to her talking to the wolf he glared. "At least Kikyo never tried to kidnap me like wolf boy did you. So there is a big difference there Kagome!"

Kagome turned her hard glare on him again as she put her hands on her hips. "You know what, yes Koga did kidnap me. But I witnessed Kikyo trying to drag you to hell with her! She tries to kill you! At least Koga dose' do that! At least he tries to protect me!"

Inuyasha glared at her as walked up to where he was in her face. "That is besides the point Kagome. I can't believe that you are even still mad about this. Usually after Koga leaves you are fine too. What changed?"

Kagome glared back at him with tears burning her eyes. Enough was enough and she has reached her limit with him! After a moment she turned her back on him. "I'm going on away from him!" Then she started to walk on ahead of everyone.

Inuyasha thought that he had won the fight. Every other time when she would do something like that it was because things were going to be back to normal soon. But he couldn't resist one final dig at her. He smiled as he crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. "She is probably going to go and try to find her wolf boy. She is a wolf lover after all. And frankly I don't care anymore what she does."

Kagome stopped and glared at the ground. Tears streaming down her face to drip onto the ground. She couldn't believe that he had just said that! 'Course with what he does with Kikyo I should have known that it was coming.' She turned her crying eyes on him with a glare. "That is the problem Inuyasha! That you don't care about me! Not even in the least and now you have said it! You don't know what it is like to care about someone and will probably never care about me!" Then she turned and fled into the woods.

Inuyasha gasped and watched with wide eyes as she ran off into the woods. "I didn't think that it bothered her that much."

"Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked toward Sango's voice then gasped as he felt the sting of her slap. He turned back on her with a growl. "What the hell was that for?"

Sango glared up at him. "It does bother her you bastard! How would you feel if it were you and Kikyo in this situation? And every chance she got she ran off to see someone else and sleep with him and wouldn't stop no matter how much you begged her to? She sees the one that she is in love with running after someone undead miko. You really didn't have a clue did you?"

Inuyasha looked up toward where she ran again. "I had no clue she felt like that."

Sango slapped him again. "Then try opening up your damned eyes you stupid hanyoukai!" Then she turned and ran after Kagome. Her mind already turning on ideas about how to get Inuyasha out of her life for good. Kagome needed someone that would care about her and only her, not someone who was hung up on the past.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome ran until she couldn't run anymore. She stumbled over an upturned root of a cherry blossom tree and landed with a thud in a crying heap at the base of the tree. She was too tired to try to get up and go on, so she just rolled over on her side toward the tree, curled up into a ball and cried. 'How could you be so heartless Inuyasha?!'

She had always held out hope that he would want to stay with her. That he would one day tell her how much he really loved only her. But as of tonight it was clear that he would only hold love for one person in his lifetime. And that was what hurt her most, it wasn't her. She would never know what his love was like, only Kikyo would know that about Inuyasha.

Sango sighed when she finally found Kagome curled up crying on the ground. 'Curse you Inuyasha! I will never forgive you for how you treat her. You don't deserve her love or her loyalty.' She knelt down beside Kagome with a sigh as she reached out and started to rub her back. "Don't worry Kagome. Everything will be fine sooner or later you'll see."

Kagome shook her head no. She knew better than that. "With him it will never be fine. I won't stop looking for the jewel shards for you and Miroku. I couldn't do that to you two. But, I don't know how much more I can take being around Inuyasha. The more I am around him, the worse it will hurt when he does this."

Sango could only close her eyes. She was right. And while there were many times that Inuyasha came in handy in battle against Naraku's youkai, she still understood where Kagome was coming from. She knew she was strong though because of this. She didn't know what she would do if it was her and Miroku.

She smiled down at Kagome as she helped her sit up. "You know what you need more than anything. You need to go back to your time and spend time with your family. You hardly get to do that anymore, and leave it to me and Miroku to keep Inuyasha here for you."

Kagome looked over at her friend with a soft smile. "Thank you Sango. I knew that I could count on you to understand. And I think that is exactly what I need. Time with them and my friends there, and away from that jerk."

Then suddenly both girls snapped their heads up. Someone was there, watching them. Hunting them. And whoever it was, didn't want them for any good reason.

Sango stood up and pulled the sash that let her travel kimono fall to the ground, leaving her in only her youkai slayer armor. She glared as she looked around trying to see someone. "I know your there so you might as well come out youkai. Stop hiding."

Kagura smiled an evil smile as she side stepped from behind another Cherry Blossom tree. Then she glared the two lone women. 'They are truly stupid creatures these ningen women.' They were her target however, under orders from Naraku. And with the monk and hanyoukai busy with his newest incarnation, they should be easy to get rid of for him. "You are both going to die."

Sango glared harder as she lifted Hiraikotsu in front of her. "You got that a little backwards don't you Kagura?"

"I don't think so."

"I know so."

Kagura laughed as she lifted her fan up in the air. "You don't get it. That mutt can't smell me over the youkai that they are fighting. They won't be running in to rescue you like before." Then she waved her fan and send waves of wind blades right at them. "Dance of Blades!"

Kagome screamed as she grabbed onto Sango from behind. She was waiting to feel the wind blades going through her flesh. She really thought that this was it and she was going to die right then! But nothing happened. The cutting never came.

She looked up at Sango who still had her eyes closed and braced to block what was coming at them. She started to look around her, and saw the man in the black coat standing in front of Sango. And in front of him was a huge wall of dirt!

She let her eyes trail up to look at the back of his head with worried eyes. "Are you here to help? Friend or foe?"

Itachi turned and looked down at her with a red eye. He needed her to trust him. If she felt comfortable enough with him to show him how she traveled through time, then he could get home and kill Orochimaru. But he knew that would take time. "I am here to aid you."

Now Sango had her eyes open and looking up into the same red ones that Kagome was as well. She didn't like them either. There was something sinister and evil about them. But was also confused about them since they did seem sincere. He may have really been there to help them. But why? Who was he?

She looked behind them toward where she hoped Inuyasha and Miroku were on their way there just in case this guy wasn't here to aid them. And with Kirara not there, she couldn't fight how she wanted to protect Kagome if he did turn on them. 'Hurry up you guys!'

Itachi turned back to Kagura with a glare as he let his wall fall when he released the jutsu. "As for you. It would be in your best interest to walk away from them and you won't get hurt."

x

Naraku sat in his castle and glared at the one he saw in Kana's mirror. He knew that the one sent for Inuyasha could replicate copies of himself. And so long as the original stayed live the others would as well and he could just make more.

'That should have made it like taking candy from a baby for Kagura only having to go after the girls like that. But then this guy shows up?' He looked at him closer then he gasped when he realized what the design was on his cloak. Blood red clouds!

He reached in his pocket and pulled out what was called a photograph and then looked back at Kana's mirror. It was him! The one the snake told him about.

He smiled as he looked over at Kohaku. He could see that his eyes were no long one of someone possessed. But he didn't seem to have any memory of what he did or who Sango was to him, so he was still staying true to him. "Kohaku I will be having a job for you soon."

He then turned back to Kana's mirror and laughed. "But for now let us watch and see how this plays out. I am curious to see how a ninja can fair against a youkai."


	3. Chapter 3

Kagura glared at this new guy. He was dressed weird and actually was standing up to her. She figured him gutsy for a human. But it annoyed her that he was butting his nose in where it didn't belong. "This does not concern you human. Just walk away and butt out. And I might let you live a little longer."

Itachi glared. He would never back down from anyone. It was clear that she used Wind to fight. And if he had to he would use his wind style jutsu to fight her. But then figured he would skip ahead and just use his Tsukuyomi on her. He hardened his glare as his Sharingan changed. "You are the one that should heed my warning. Walk away now. Or you will suffer."

Kagura burst into a fit of laughter. "You are really a fool! I am a youkai, one of the most powerful beings in Japan. And you are nothing but a foolishly dressed human. You are weak. What do you think you can do against a youkai?"

Itachi glared for a moment. She called herself a youkai. 'I wonder what she would do if she saw any of the tailed beasts in true form? They are true youkai.' "If you would really like the answer to that question. All you need to do is look into my eyes. Then you will see some of my power."

Kagura glared at him as he slowly opened his eyes. 'What sort of fool does he think he is? Just looking into his eyes is supposed to defeat me, impossible!' "You are stupid. It is your funeral though. Now it is time to die!" Then she started to swing her fan but stopped before she could do anything. Her body wouldn't move and there was a searing pain in her head. She screamed in pain as she grabbed her head. "What the hell?" Then she fell on the ground in an unconscious heap, with her eyes locked in a stare.

Kagome looked back up at him with wide fearful eyes. She had never met anyone, demon or human that could look at someone and do something like that. 'I really hope he doesn't turn into a foe.' "Hey you. What just happened to Kagura?"

Itachi let his Sharingan fade as he turned back to the girls. He didn't want to see the fear in Kagome's eyes. But he knew that force wouldn't do anything but prove to be a pain for him. He needed her to trust him enough to show him how she went through time so he could get back. He would kill Orochimaru and then go after Naruto again.

He sighed as he closed his eyes. "I have the power to use my eyes to delve into people's minds. I can use it either to gather information or to torture someone. Which is what I did to her. After I was in her mind, in what was only a matter of seconds, but in her mind she went through three days worth of torture."

Kagome twitched and gasped at the mention of the word torture. 'Great another one that likes that stuff.' But as she looked up into his black eyes she was confused. She could see a cold and evil soul behind them. That was all she saw when she looked at them and part of her wanted to run the instant she saw them.

But she also saw something else in the very depths. A sadness for something. Something that he has had turmoil over for one reason or another. 'I would ask him about it but he would deny it. And my luck he will be gone like the wind soon and I won't ever know anything about him. Oh wait!'

With a sigh she stood up straight and smiled. "Thank you very much for saving us. It was very nice of you. Um, could I ask what your name is?" 'And I have every intention of looking you up the instant that I get home.'

Itachi never took his eyes off of her. "I am Itachi Uchiha. And I..."

"Get the hell away from Kagome you bastard!"

Itachi stopped what he was saying when he heard a male scream at him. He turned and saw a strange male with white hair and dog ears coming at him with a rather large sword. "Fool."

Kagome turned a glare on Inuyasha. She wouldn't have been in a situation for Itachi to save her if it weren't for him! 'I won't have him doing this again!' "Inuyasha SIT!" Then she turned and looked at him in his creator. "You don't have the right to act like you own me! You want to own someone go find Kikyo! If he hadn't come along Sango and I would have been killed by Kagura!"

Sango sighed as Miroku came up beside her and pointed to where Kagura's body now lay. "Look Inuyasha there she is." 'What a total idiot.'

Itachi starred down at Kagome while the conversation went on around him. With a single word she sent him flying to the ground with such force he made a creator. She was strong he guessed to be able to do that. But he didn't sense any chakra from her either. 'I wonder how she did that?'

Kagome sighed as she turned an exhausted face back to Itachi. "I am so sorry about that Itachi. Inuyasha can be a little bit possessive of me. Even though he knows that I hate it."

Itachi looked at Inuyasha and sighed. 'I will have to ask her how she does that.' Then he turned and looked right into her brown eyes. "I was wondering if I could have a private word with you?"

Then glared when he found himself looking into amber eyes instead. "I don't believe that I was talking to you."

Inuyasha glared back at his black eyes with a growl. "It's not happening."

"What?"

"It's not happening. You aren't going to be alone with Kagome for even a second. Not even going to happen."

"I do believe that it is not your choice."

"Not going to happen!"

Kagome glared at the back of Inuyasha's head. "Inuyasha."

"Not now."

"Inuyasha!"

"Damnit Kagome not now!"

Kagome glared as she crossed her arms and her face began to glow read. "SIT!" After he hit the ground she stepped over him and started to walk away from them. "I will gladly give you a private moment Itachi. Come with me."

Itachi stepped over the fool in the ground and followed after Kagome. He wondered just what she was. He kept a look over his shoulder to make sure that he didn't get out of sight range of her friends. He didn't want to make a bigger scene than that white haired fool. Stopping at one point he turned to her though she spoke before he could.

Kagome sighed and clapped her hands together like she was praying and closed her eyes as she smiled. "I am sorry again. I don't know why he acts like this when we meet someone knew. He can be such a pain sometimes."

"It is not your place to apologize for someone like him. He should be the one that does that."

Kagome sighed and dropped her head and her arms down to her side. "Yeah that'll never happen in my lifetime."

Itachi sighed. "Right. Straight to the point then?"

Kagome looked up at him with startled eyes. "Yeah sure."

"I don't know how, but I know you travel through time."


	4. Chapter 4

Kagome gasped as she jerked her head up at him. Her eyes were wide with amazement. 'How does he know that? Not even Naraku knows about that!' She smiles awkwardly and laughs slightly. "I don't know what you are talking about. No one can go through time. I wish I could sometimes but I know that there is no such thing."

Itachi sighed. He had hoped that she wouldn't have this personality. But he was obviously out of luck on that one. He closed his eyes as he crossed his arms. "I know better than that. You see unlike you, someone who can go from your time to this at the drop of a hat. I was thrust into this world and time by force. I can't just go home like you can."

Kagome covered her mouth as she gasped again. This time her eyes were pleading. "How did you know about me? Who told you? As far as I know my friends, someone named Kikyo and Kaede are the only ones who know what I can do."

Itachi held out the envelope that held the letter and her picture in it. "There is someone from my time that goes by the name Orochimaru and can use the same power I have. He is the one that sent me here."

Kagome took the note and with a shaky hand opened it. Her throat went dry and constricted on her when she saw the picture. And her head began to swim when she read that his life force and her own were now bound to each other. 'Doesn't sound like a good thing.' She looked up at him this time with tear filled worried eyes. "What does it mean that our life forces are bound together?"

Itachi looked down into her eyes. The tears did nothing to him. But he would act like it bothered him. She needed to trust him. He dropped his arms and sighed. "There are two ways that he could of done this. The first one is just like it sounds. Only if one dies will the other die at the same moment. But with no other side effects."

"Side effects?"

"With the first one, if I am stabbed in the leg, it only happens to me. The other one, your leg would be wounded too. What happens to one, no matter how minor happens to the other. Even a bruise."

"Oh great just my luck. More bad luck."

"It is imperative that we find out what one it is. If it is the first one, it will be simple. If it is the second one it will make things more difficult."

Kagome had gone pale by now. She was trying to wrap her head around what was going on but in one hand it seemed so unreal to be real. She glanced at Inuyasha and then back to Itachi. "So how do we figure out what one is the one we are stuck with?"

Itachi slowly reached behind him and pulled a senbon out of his pack. He didn't want to alarm her or her friends and cause an even bigger scene that what was already made. "The best way is to see what happens when one of us is injured."

"Injured?"

"Hai. I will prick the tip of one of my fingers. If yours bleed then it is the first kind. If not it was the second kind."

"Oh man I just know that with my luck it will be the first kind."

"Shall we?"

"Sure why not."

"Okay."

Kagome held up her left first finger and closed one eye as she waited for the pain to come. "This will also be the best way to prove it to the others as well."

"Prove?"

"Oh yeah. There is no way that they are going to believe this one."

Itachi only nodded. He never took his eyes off of her face as he quickly pricked his own left first finger. A sense of hate and hope flooded him as her finger showed a small spot of blood just like his own. "That settles it. I am not leaving your side now."

Kagome was still in shock as she tried her hardest to wrap her mind around the fact that he was telling the truth. They were bound in a rather personal way and she didn't know what to do to make it go away. Then what he said sank in and she turned infuriated eyes to him. "Why do you have to stay with me from now on? We can figure it out without having to travel together. I won't die, I am not as weak as you must think that I am ya know."

Itachi smiled as he crossed his arms. Some of the scariest people he knew in his own time were women. Flashes of Tsunade and Sakura flying through his mind. He was ready for her on that one. "It is not so much because of my opinion of how strong you are or not. More for the peace of mind of both of us."

"How so?"

"So that you will know that I am not taking needless risks as we figure out how to get this thing released. And I will know the same about you. It has nothing to do with whether or not I see you as weak."

"So you don't see me as weak?"

"No. In fact some of the strongest people from the time and place I come from are women."

Kagome could only stare up at him in shock. She couldn't believe that he really didn't see her as weak just cause she was a girl. And though they still looked more evil then Sesshomaru's eyes they also told her that he was telling the truth.

Hearing an annoyed growl she half smiled as she looked over at Inuyasha. "I don't think Inuyasha is going to like this the least little bit. If I know him he is going to act like a brat kid."

Itachi raised an eyebrow as he too looked at Inuyasha. "What is he? I have never seen a human with the ears of an dog before. Interesting."

Kagome laughed as she looked up and saw his face and the question he asked her. She wondered the very same thing when she first met Inuyasha. "Well you see, it is a totally different time than your time. So there are a lot of things that I will need to explain to you."

Itachi never took his eyes off of Inuyasha. "I have no doubts on that. You may start with him."

Kagome giggled again. "Inuyasha is a hanyoukai. His father was a full blooded inu youkai lord, and his mother a beautiful human princess. That is why he has the ears and stuff. Stick around long enough I am sure that you will meet his older full youkai brother Sesshomaru too."

x

Inuyasha glared at the guy talking to Kagome. "I don't like him."

Miroku sighed. "You don't know him Inuyasha."

"I don't care there is something about him that I just flat out don't like."

"He can't be all that bad. He did come to the rescue of Kagome and Sango you know."

"What is your point monk?"

"My point is that he can't be all that bad if he saved them."

Inuyasha growled at him. "I don't care about any of that. I just flat out don't like him and I don't trust him."

Shippo smiled as he jumped up on Sango's shoulder. He pointed at Inuyasha and laughed a little. "I bet he is scared."

Inuyasha turned a growl on him. "What do I have to be scared of you shrimp?"

Shippo smiled. "You are scared that Kagome will like him better and leave you for him. That is what."

Inuyasha turned all the way to go after Shippo when he heard Kagome say his name with a growl to her voice. Before he could turn to say that he started it, he found himself face down in the dirt. "Why me?"

Kagome crossed her arms as she glared down at him. "I swear you are just like a child! How many times to I have to tell you that Shippo REALLY is a kid still and to leave him alone! You can't just charge after him like you do Naraku just cause he says something that you don't like."

Kagome then turned softer eyes to Shippo as he jumped into her arms. "And would you please not say things you know will upset Inuyasha. He is a big enough headache without it."

Inuyasha sat up and that was when he noticed that the guy was standing behind Kagome. He flew up to his feet and pointed over at him. "What the hell is he doing here still?"

Kagome glared over at him. "If you would sit down and shut up long enough I'll tell you why he is here and going to be going with us from now on."

"No way! I won't have it! Send him packing!"

Kagome glared right back not budging at all. "I won't. And if you would just shut your mouth for once and listen when I ask you too I will tell you why that is."

"Kagome he is bad news! Get rid of him!"

"Are you going to listen or not?"

"I want him gone."

"I don't."

"I don't care."

Kagome gasped then glared at the ground. "You don't care huh."

"Not in the least." Then he turned to Itachi. "Take a hike you bastard. You aren't welcome here."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "I do believe that Kagome has said that I stay."

"I don't give a damn what she says I don't want you here. Now get going before I have to slice you in two."

"Inuyasha."

Inuyasha knew that tone of voice and jumped. But turned a glare on her. "What?"

Kagome looked up with eyes that were as cold as Sesshomaru's and crossed her arms. "SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT! And listen for once in your damn life!"

She then turned her back to him and looked at Sango and Miroku with softer eyes. "We have something to tell you all and it isn't all that great either."


	5. Chapter 5

Sango could only stare at Kagome with utter shock wrote all over her face. She just couldn't belive it! How could it happen to Kagome? When? She looked over at Itachi with a half glare then back to Kagome. "Kagome, how can you be totally sure about this? It could be a trick."

Itachi sighed as he once again pulled out a senbon. "It has already been tested onna. Watch." Then he pricked the second finger on the same hand. The gasps and looks of shock were more than he could stand and had to try to force himself not to glare at them all. 'Where the hell did he send me?'

Miroku turned a glare up into the trees toward where Inuyasha was sitting. He would be the one that was going to make it hard on everyone, especially Kagome. "You heard and saw with your own eyes Inuyasha. You can't do anything about it so you are going to have to deal with it. At least until we find a way to break the spell."

Itachi sighed out loud as he sighed and bowed his head. Drawing all eyes to him. "It is not a spell. If it were just that I could have broken it without having to show myself to any of you and you would have never known. But this isn't going to be that simple."

Inuyasha growled as he looked down at him. 'What did he say?' He fell out of the tree and now glared into his cold black eyes with his own angry amber eyes. "What other way could it have been done but with a spell? And as soon as it is broke you are dead anyway so stop trying to prolong it."

Itachi glared back at Inuyasha. "It won't be as easy as you and your friends seem to think that it will be. Our life forces were bound using the power that everyone uses in my time called Chakra. It is not as simple to break as a spell is. I would have preferred a spell, for it would have been much easier to break."

"Chakra?"

"Hai."

"And just what can you do with this Chakra that none of us can do? Huh smart guy?"

Kagome sighed. "Inuyasha."

Itachi smiled and turned his back to Inuyasha. "This for one thing." Then he quickly went through the hand signs. "Fire Style. Fire Ball Jutsu." And sucked in a breath and blew out a fire ball that was huge. After a moment or two of holding it he let it lapse and turned an annoyed glare on Inuyasha. "Satisfied?"

Inuyasha was still starring at the spot where the fire ball was. "How the hell did you do that?"

Itachi sighs. "That is only the surface of what I can do." He smiled as he looked at the rest of them. "I can make as many clones of myself as I want. Turn mud and dirt into walls hard as stone. I can even walk up trees and on water."

Inuyasha snapped out of it and then laughed as he crossed his arms. "See now I know you are just a nut job. There is no such thing as just 'walking' up trees. And no one can walk on water."

Itachi turned a mocking smile on him. "In my time there is. And that is only the beginning."

Sango spoke up with a slight hesitation to her voice. "Walking up trees and on water, well that is not very believable you know."

Itachi sighed. 'Seems the only way to make them understand anything is to show them that it is true. How bothersome.' Dropping his arms to his side without a word or missing a step he walked up to the tree that Inuyasha was just sitting in and walked up it and out the underneath of the branch that Inuyasha was sitting on.

He looked down or up in his case at the rest of them. "Are you satisfied now that I can do things and have powers that you cannot nor have heard of?"

Kagome had been sitting back and watching and listening. She knew one thing was for sure. At least until the spell or jutsu or whatever it was broke and she was free from Itachi, she would always be safe with him. He didn't seem like he was ready to die just yet and she sure as hell wasn't. And didn't really want to fight with Inuyasha all the time over it.

She stood and cleared her throat pulling all eyes to her. She smiled as she clapped her hands. "Well we all know that he is different and has different powers and could come in handy if nothing else. But the fact is that the spell or jutsu or whatever it is, is still on us none the less. He will be traveling with us until we figure it out."

Sango nodded. "I agree with Kagome. I don't think he wants to die so we can at least take solace in knowing that he won't let her get hurt. But where do we start?"

Itachi dropped down and was now standing right behind Kagome. "I have an idea. However it will take Kagome's full cooperation. I know a jutsu that will allow me to see what hands signs were used to seal me to her and when it happened. Then I might be able to figure out a release Jutsu for it."

Inuyasha couldn't suppress his growl anymore. Before anyone could react he jumped up and pushed Kagome out of the way and was nose to nose with Itachi. "We may be stuck with you and I can't even beat the hell out of you or kill you right now. But you will not be doing anything weird to Kagome. Understand me?"

"I believe it is up to her if she wishes to do this or not. Not you."

"I won't let her do it."

Kagome glared up at Inuyasha with tears starting to well in her eyes. He acted like this and like he loved her at times and really wanted to protect her but would run off with Kikyo whenever he wanted. She jumped up and glared as she put her hands on her hips. "Inuyasha! SIT! SIT! SIT! You down own me Inuyasha and if it will help break whatever it is this is, then I will do it."

Inuyasha glared up at her. "Have you one insane! How do you know he isn't going to kill you?"

"Sit! I don't know why you act like you care so much about me. I know that you will run back to Kikyo the next time I leave. And besides Itachi doesn't seem like he wants to die right now any more than I do!"


	6. Chapter 6

Itachi kept his mask in place but could not help but look at her with amazement. She was different from any other woman that he had ever met. And seemed to have total power over the hanyou. When she looked up and his eyes met his he only starred. "I have a power called Tsukuyomi. With it I can delve into someone's mind and search through their memory and see everything around them as well. Even smell the smells they do. This will not only let me see when you changed, but how and possibly by whom."

Kagome was really nervous about this. She saw what he did to Kagura and he didn't do anything but look at her. 'I don't think he would really try to hurt me. After all if he does it will hurt him too.' "What exactly do you have to do to use the Tsukuyomi?"

"You have seen it already."

"I have?"

"Hai. You just have to look into my eyes and I will do the rest. In reality it will be a few moments but I will spend three days searching your memories. I used this one with the youkai. Difference is that I will only search our memories, where as she was put through torture to end her."

Kagome was REALLY nervous now. Casting her eyes down she gulped as she cleared her throat. "I am not so sure now. Will I end up like Kagura? Or different?"

"I will not lie to you. You will end up in the same state. The Tsukuyomi was developed by my clan to use in interrogation. My clan was the founder of the police force for the village that I once lived in. and because some of them were just being question at times and not accused of any crimes, I have a pill that you can take that will counter act the effects of the Jutsu. The worst case is you will have a slight headache."

Kagome thought for a moment. She knew whatever happened to Kagura took it's toll on her and killed her. But there was nothing but truth in his eyes when he said that it would be different. That he tortured Kagura and would only go through her memories. 'And I know he won't kill me because if he does that then he will die. Here we go.' She looked up at him with a smile. "I will do it."

Inuyasha jumped up and glared at her. "You have gone insane! You saw what happened to Kagura! He is duping you!"

Kagome glared over her shoulder at him. Her glare comparable to Sesshomaru's it was so cold. "You know what it is my choice. I make my own choices and I don't need you for it! Stay out of it! Until you can man up and pick me over Kikyo and NEVER have anything to do with her again you have no right to say anything about what I do!" Then she sighed and turned softer eyes toward Itachi. "Well just like with Kagura, all I have to do is look in your eyes right?"

Itachi nodded. "Just look right in my eyes and I will do the rest of it." Then he closed his eyes and when he opened them he met her brown with his red and black ones. "Now."

As soon as he entered her mind he gasped inside. There was nothing there where she should have been except a bright pure pink light! He would have to ask her about that when this was all said and done.

He started to go back through the days. After little over a week his eyes went wide. He found it! It was Orochimaru who did it himself. And he was standing next to someone in a baboon costume. He watched as the characters for the hand signs used swirled around her and memorized them as fast as he could. He had to get her out of the Jutsu fast.

"Release." As his Sharingan faded away he moved behind her nearly instantly and caught Kagome as she fell backward. He laid her down on the grown and reached around in his pack and pulled out a small vile with a pill inside of it. Without even looking up he knew that her female friend was right next to her on the other side. "This is the pill that will counter act the side effects of the Tsukuyomi. It works with the chakra in the body and cleanses it completely."

Sango gasped then glared at him. "I don't know what this Chakra stuff is that you keep talking about. But I am sure that Kagome doesn't have it so how is that pill going to help her?"

Itachi looked up at her with a blank face. "I know that. She doesn't have a drop of chakra inside her body anywhere. I am going to funnel some of mine into her and it will have the same effect. It will mix with my chakra and work to cleanse her body. It will only take a few seconds." Then laid his hand on her stomach and channeled just enough chakra into her body to cause the pill to take effect.

Kagome slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she held her head and sat up. "How did I end up on the ground?"

Sango pulled her attention to her as she sighed in relief. "After the red from his eyes faded away you fell backwards. He already gave you the pill and some of his power to wake you up. How do you feel?"

Kagome looked up at Itachi with a sigh. "You gave me some of your power?"

"Hai. You have no chakra and the pill needs it to work. So I gave you some of mine."

"I see. Thank you."

Sango grabbed her arm to help her up. "How are you?"

Kagome stood up with a smile. "I do have a small headache like he said I would but other than that I am just fine." Then she turned to Itachi who was behind her now. "Did you figure anything out? Did you see when it happened?"

Itachi nodded. "It happened a little over a week ago. Someone from my time that uses chakra called Orochimaru was the one who cast the jutsu. I saw the hand signs that he used, and I should be able to come up with a release Jutsu fairly fast."

Kagome sighed. "That is good."

"There was one more thing that concerned me. Orochimaru was standing next to someone in a baboon costume. Who is that?"


	7. Chapter 7

Kagome gasped and crossed her arms as she glared at nothing. She knew Naraku would have went to any depths to kill off her and Inuyasha but she didn't think he would have done something like this. Anything to get the rest of the jewel for himself for his own evil ambitions. "The one in the bamboo costume is a youkai named Naraku that we are all here fighting against. He is so evil. Beyond evil."

Itachi nodded. Regardless of what this Naraku has up his sleeve he would not let anything happen to Kagome. Or it would mean his own death. But that was something that he didn't have to think about. Just do. And he would be traveling with them from now on anyway. He sighed as he looked down at Kagome. "You know more about this land and time than I do at the moment. So I shall follow your lead." 'Hopefully she will see it as me showing her trust, and she will show me how she goes through time on her own.'

Inuyasha had listened and was already growling. Then when he heard Itachi say that he was going to follow her lead he turned it on him. "Who the hell said that she was the leader of this group?"

Itachi turned his glare on the hanyou. "I would much rather be back in my time with my partner and working on my mission than here. But it is Kagome and I that are bound together not you. I will follow her lead myself. Regardless of what you do."

"What the hell did you just say?"

"I will follow her. She is the one that I am bound too. Not you hanyou."

Inuyasha growled and glared as his hand twitched as he started to reach for Tetsuaiga. Then he just turned and crossed his arms and growled to himself. "Whatever. Who cares I'm going to kill you as soon as this thing is broke anyway. And the sooner the better."

Itachi glared after him as he took off walking down the road and the monk and the other woman joined in the middle. He then fell into step with Kagome. "Kagome?"

"What is it?"

"May I ask you a question? It may be a rather personal question so I ask that you do not take offence to it."

Kagome raised her eyebrows at hm. "Sure. Ask away. I am sure that you couldn't be any more offensive than Inuyasha can be at times."

Itachi looked down into her eyes with a straight face. "What are you? When I use the Tsukoyomi on someone, I see them as people, just in black and white. However when I did it with you I could not see your body. Where you should have been was nothing more than a bright pink light. I have not encountered something like that in the past."

Kagome laughed as just a hint of confusion flew threw his eyes. "Well that is an easy one. I didn't even know it till about a year ago, I am a purifying miko. I can keep anything in it's purest state, including what we are trying to find and get away from Naraku."

"I see."

"I know this is probably going to be a stupid question, but, is there such a thing as a miko where you are from?"

Itachi didn't show it but he was clearly shocked. He had not thought that she would have been someone as powerful as a miko. Then again considering the control that she had over the hanyou it shouldn't have surprised him. Though she didn't seem as powerful as Shion did. "I know of one in my time. I am sure that there are more, but only one that can purify like you do. I have watched her in battle and reduce a man stronger than me to act like a child before her. She truly makes even the strongest of men look as weak as infants."

Kagome sighed as she bowed her head. She knew that feeling all to well. "Oh trust me I know how it feels to be made to look as weak as a infant. The time I came from doesn't have mikos, spells, youkai, hanyou, or anything else like that. We have monks but they just devout to pray. It wasn't until I came here and found out I was reincarnated from a miko that was powerful as well. She can, as well as most other miko's of this time make me look like I can't beat my way out of a paper bag."

Itachi looked straight ahead now. He knew what she needed. "All you need is practice. And practice with someone that won't go easy on you. That is all anyone really needs to get good at whatever they want to do."

Kagome sighed as she dropped her head even further. "The only one who would do that for me is Sango. Miroku would be afraid of hurting me and Inuyasha doesn't think I could do it."

Itachi cracked his eyes as he looked down at her. 'If Orochimaru is in on this, I have to assume that Kabuto and Sasuke are here as well and in on it. She may have power over the hanyou but they are a whole other league compared to the baka. I will have to train her. To make sure that she lives until we are not bound anymore.'

He closed his eyes and glared at the back of his eyelids. He couldn't believe that he was stuck in a situation like this. It was all Orochimaru's fault and now weather they both lived or died depended on what he did next. He had to show trust to this onna. He wasn't ready to die yet, so she needed to get stronger. His life depended on it.

He glanced up at Inuyasha with a sigh. He was going to be a problem with his plan he knew it. "I will train you."

"Wait what?"

"It was someone who uses chakra like I do that bound us together. I am sure that he is not the only one here and you need to know how to defend against them. I know you have no chakra but your miko powers can substitute for them and would help you."

Inuyasha turned a glare and a growl on Itachi. "If she needs any sort of training you are not going to do it. You don't need to teach her anything. I will train her."

Kagome sighed as she crossed her arms. She was sorely getting tired of this. "You know Inuyasha, I may be too nice for my own good, but you are too daft for your own good. I can and will seek any sort of training or help form anyone that I want. And with what we could be facing, it is going to be Itachi. He knows what they can do, we don't."

"Did you hit your head on something? Have you lost your mind? He is nothing but bad news, I know it and you are defending him like you are in love with him!"

Kagome couldn't stop the tears as she bowed her head. They were streaming from her eyes like a waterfall. She couldn't take anymore of this with Inuyasha. It was only going to hurt her more as time went on and she knew it. "You don't own me Inuyasha!"

"I never said that I did!"

"You sure as hell act like it and I am tired of it!"

Inuyasha couldn't see her face but it finally registered on him that she was crying. He could only look at her dumbfounded. When her body began to shake from her sobs he sighed and held a hand out and started to walk toward her. "Kagome settle down. I just don't want anything to happen to you. I don't know what I would..." Then stopped when he saw the glare that she had on him. The pain in her eyes spoke more to him than anything.

Kagome knew that what she was about to do was going to be the hardest thing that she was ever going to have to do in her life. But she had to do it. She couldn't go on like this anymore. "Inuyasha get out of here. Go run to Kikyo or whatever you want to do but get far away from me. I can't do this anymore I won't put myself through it. I will never mean as much to you as you do me and I get it. So I am done putting my heart through it."

"But Kagome I..."

"Leave Inuyasha!" Then without warning she turned and fled from him as she let tears stream down her face for a second time in a day. How could this have happened to her! How could her life have turned out this screwed up!

Itachi watched her run then turned a glare on the half demon. "You are a fool." Then he was gone in a puff of smoke after her. She was his lifeline at the moment and he was not about to let her die and die himself. Not by any means at all!


	8. Chapter 8

Sango sighed as Kagome ran off. She gave Miroku a nod then took off after Kagome for a second time in the same day. Giving Inuyasha a glare as she ran past him. The only way to stop what she was going through was for Kagome to stay away from him for good. At least for a while at any rate. And for Kagome's sake she really hoped that she did just that.

Inuyasha could only stare after her. He could not believe what it was that she just said! She was leaving him! That she didn't want to be with him anymore. Or travel with him anymore. He reached a shaky hand out toward her. "Kagome."

Miroku stepped out in front of Inuyasha. A glare of his own that locked with the amber eyes of the hanyou. Then without warning he reached out and punched him right in the side of the face sending him to the ground. "You are daft and blind do you know that? You don't even know that you have lost the best thing that could have ever happened to you. And two good friends at that."

Inuyasha growled at the monk. 'How dare he!' He jumped up and was in his face. "You ever hit me like that and I will kill you monk. And I haven't lost anything! Kagome, Sango, Kirara. They will all come back right here when they realize that they need me. And I will be waiting."

Miroku didn't budge or back down from the hanyou. He was more dense then most women that he had met over the years. "You really are daft aren't you Inuyasha. You will see I am right. When none of us come back to you. We are all tired of the games you play." Then he turned and walked off in the direction that the girls and Itachi went. Not offering any further explanations to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha gaped after him then crossed his arms with a growl. He flopped down with his back toward them and stuck his nose in the air. "I know you will all come running back. And when you get back I expect an apology!"

x

Kagome once again found herself falling on the ground in a crying heap. She was breathing hard as her heart broke in two. But this time she would stand by her choice. She didn't know how much longer she could take the game that Inuyasha was playing with her! So she was going to stay away from him and not go back. No matter how much it hurt her.

Itachi silently landed in front of Kagome with his usual emotionless mask on his face. As he watched her cry he thought of the last time that he showed any emotion at all. The night that he came face to face with Madara Uchiha and the nine tailed fox attacked the village.

Though it was one of excitement. He wanted that power. And Madara told him how to do that. After that he acted as if he didn't have a heart. Shut everyone out, even Sasuke. His heart became encased in ice over the years. But this girl was one that showed her emotion no matter what. If she felt it she showed it outwardly. Nothing like the kunoichi from his time. 'I wonder if I can ever get use to this?'

He turned and watched her friend come running up behind him and fall to the ground with her. He knew the kind that she was also. She would indulge her and this would go on forever. "Kagome."

"Hai?"

"What exactly are you going to do about the pain in your heart? How will you let it change your life?"

Kagome looked up at him with a glare. He didn't know anything about what her life was or wasn't like and he had no right to act like he did! "What do you mean by that?"

Sango was also glaring up at him. He was acting like Inuyasha right then. And that was not what she needed right now. She needed someone who was going be understanding, not just as controlling and possessive as Inuyasha. "What she needs now is time and understanding."

Itachi glared back down at the miko. He was not going to lie to her. She needed to know everything so that if she trusted him, if they ended up in his time she would know everything about why he was a hunted criminal. "In the time that I come from, I am a rouge ninja. A criminal. I am hunted because of crimes that I committed in the village that I was from then left. No matter how nice I seem to be, trust me it is only because of the jutsu that is on us. Otherwise I wouldn't be here nor would I care what you do now. But that is not the case and we are bound. Now, what are you going to do about the pain you feel right now?"

Kagome pushed herself up and crossed her arms. She glared at him as she started tapping her foot. "The only thing that I can do and deal with it in time."

"We don't have time. The way I see it you can do one of two things here."

"And what are they?"

"You can prove that hanyou is right and you are weak an need to be protected. Or you can train and prove him wrong. Prove that you are worthy of being called a miko."

Kagome reacted in a way that even shocked her. She tried to reached out to slap him. But he dodged her hand with ease. "I am not the cold person you or Inuyasha are, but I am not weak!"

Itachi kept his glare on her. "Then you must harden your heart to all emotion. Concentrate on training with me. Prove Inuyasha wrong and that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. Then you won't be a target for anyone anymore."

Kagome kept her glare as she crossed her arms. He was right. No one wanted to push her in training though so she never really asked. No one thought that she was strong enough, not even Sango. But then something else came to mind. "Itachi?"

"Hai?"

"You said something about crimes that you committed. What are they?"

Itachi kept his stare on her. "There is a jutsu that allows me to take over all movements of another being. I was under that jutsu and killed my entire clan. Every single person except my little brother."

Kagome gasped and took a step back away from him. She saw a hint of pain that flashed threw his eyes as he said it. Just like in Kohaku's eyes. She cast her eyes down. "I am sorry."

Itachi sighed as he closed his eyes. It was clear that she did not understand his meaning. "I have been forced into this time. There is a chance at some point you will be forced to my time. You need to know everything. I do not need your pity. I asked to be placed under the jutsu and to destroy what was left of my clan. They were complacent and I could no longer stand it. The only reason my little brother was left alive was that he possessed the possibility that he could unlock the same power I had. I wanted to see if he could best me."

Kagome gasped as she took a step back. He just said that he wanted to kill his entire clan. His mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins! His entire family except his brother hoping that his brother would be the one who killed him one day! "Why on earth would you want to do something like that?"

Itachi turned to look at her and saw that there was fear in her eyes. He needed her to trust him! "Things were different in that case as in this one. In that case I was tired of being part of what they called the norm. I felt stifled. I worked hard and finally unlocked the power that I strove to get. A power only one in my clan before me had ever unlocked. I had to test my powers and there was no stronger clan in jutsu than my own. They just chose not to use them."

Then he relaxed as he closed his eyes. She was thinking that this was a bad idea and he knew it. But he had to keep her away from the mutt so that he could prepare her for what he was sure was going to be coming. "That was a long time ago. And this is different. Then I wanted to test my powers and see what I could destroy with them. In this situation with you, I must push my powers to protect you. I have never done that before and is new to me. It will be a good training exercise to me."

Kagome was shaking and ready to run back to Inuyasha. To let him gloat about being right for a change and stay with him. But as he talked about protecting her there was something in his voice. No matter how much he said that he wanted to do what he did, she knew deep down that it wasn't true. That he didn't really want to do that and still hurt over it.

Inuyasha tried to kill her when she first met him, and this guy hasn't even lifted a finger to her. She stands up and smiles as she steps toward him and touches his arm. She laughed when he turned wide startled eyes at her. "You know everyone has something good in them. And bad. Take Inuyasha. He tried to kill me the second I met him. I know that there is something good in you and training with you will keep my mind off of him. When do we start?"


	9. Chapter 9

Itachi's eyes went wide as they could when he looked down into her soft brown ones. There was a sea of emotions swimming through them. He could see fear, anger, pain, compassion and many others each taking their time floating to surface. He had just told her he murdered everyone in his clan save Sasuke, just to test his powers. And she was still standing there. She didn't turn and run from him.

He closed his eyes as he sighed. He opened them with a stern look. "We start your training in the morning. Of the three different types of techniques you are going to learn, we will start with taijutsu."

"Taijutsu?"

"Hand to hand fighting."

Kagome let her head fall forward. "Oh great."

x

Sango starred at Kagome and this Itachi talking. She wasn't so sure about this anymore. And more to the point she wasn't so sure about Itachi. He just admitted to killing his entire family except for his little brother. And basically just for the sport of it! But they were stuck with him either way it went. 'I just hope that Inuyasha is wrong about him.'

Miroku stepped up behind Sango with a sigh. He couldn't quite hear what Kagome and Itachi were talking about, but he didn't think it was that bad since Kagome wasn't crying anymore. He looked down at Sango with a half smile. "Inuyasha still thinks that we are all going to be back any minute."

Sango sighed. "I don't think he is good for her but I don't like this situation. He just told us that he killed his entire clan except his little brother to test a power. We will have to keep an extra close eye on him."

Miroku nodded as he half glared at Itachi. "Are you sure that it wouldn't just be best to go back to Inuyasha for now?"

Sango glared up at him and planted a strong elbow right in his stomach. "We finally got her away from him and it is her choice. I will not have her going back to him. No we will just wait and watch him. See what happens."

x

Naraku glared at nothing. Of all the different battles that Kagura fought with Inuyasha and Sesshomaru they were never a match for her. She would come home with clothes tattered and torn sometimes, but not a scratch on her. And this guy shows up and renders her to a pool of mush with his eyes!

"That is the power of the Uchiha. I told you how strong they were."

Naraku turned a glare on the man that reminded him of nothing more than a snake. Orochimaru. "You talked me into binding him to Inuyasha's wench so that you could have him killed, or to kill my underlings?"

Orochimaru smiled. "We will handle him. Nothing you can come up with will be of any use. I suggested the girl because it was clear to me how Inuyasha felt about her. Though his heart does not belong to her, he does care for her. Her death, as a direct result of your doing, will send him into a rage. Do you get where I am going with this?"

Naraku stood and glared at him. "I will be the one to kill the girl. And Inuyasha and the entire group they travel with. Then I will have an entire jewel and that will be the end of it. Do you understand where I am going with this?"

"I won't let any of your vile creations touch that girl as long as her life is bound to Itachi's."

Naraku turned to find red eyes glaring back at him from the dark. "You do not tell me what to do boy. I will do as I please."

"I will kill any that get close." Then he left and walked out of the stuffy old palace.

Naraku glared after the boy. 'I do not take threats so easy boy.'

x

Sasuke stepped out of the palace with a low growl. He had no clue who this guy thought that he was, but he was nothing compared to the rest of them. Even Sakura when they first graduated from the academy could beat him with little effort.

He looked to the side and saw Kabuto standing there. "So where is he?"

Kabuto sighed and turned serious eyes up to Sasuke. "I don't know. Once he met up with the girl we bound him with, all traces of his chakra have vanished. I have no clue where he is. You are going to have to do this the old fashion way."

Sasuke sighed. "I need some exercise anyway. What do you know about the girl and her group?"

Kabuto stepped up next to him. "I know she is a miko. Supposed to be a strong one too though she doesn't really know how to use her powers all that great yet. Another one is called a youkai slayer and carries a huge boomerang and rides a cat youkai. A monk that is supposed to be rather strong as well. A hanyou that is more reckless than Naruto could have ever dreamed of being. And a kid fox."

Sasuke smiled. None of them were a problem. "So I will find them and kill Itachi. The other's won't be a problem for me."

Kabuto glared at him. "Don't underestimate them cause of where we are form or the reports I have gathered say they are weak. One day, that is going to be your downfall. You are going to underestimate someone and it will be your death."

Sasuke humphed then started walking. The only way he was going to die, was of old age. Nothing else mattered to him in life except for killing Itachi for what he did to him and their family all those years ago. 'And I will get my revenge. Just you watch.'

x

Inuyasha stood on a branch near-by and watched what was going on. They were talking about her training and what they were going to do on how to break the jutsu. 'She really isn't coming back to me after all. I don't blame her I am an ass. But I always have Kikyo.' Then he turned and bounded off in search of the one who still held his heart.

Kikyo was sitting in a tree over a river when she sensed Inuyasha coming towards her. Something in his heart had changed and this was a change that excited her. 'I wonder what it is?'

Inuyasha landed on the ground beneath her. "Got room for a travel buddy?"

"What about my clone?"

"She walked away from me. She has someone else that is going to protect her now."


	10. Chapter 10

"Ouch!" Kagome hit the ground hard on her backside. "Oh man that one really hurt. I hope your butt hurts as much as mine does!"

"Get up and do it again."

"Oh just give me a second! You have been doing nothing but pushing me since we started this! It has been two weeks already!"

Itachi glared down at her. "It has been two weeks and you have only learned how to defend against throwing shuriken at you. You can't defend against any body contact moves, or Ninjutsu. You can't dodge or deflect kunai or senbon. Now get up and do it again!"

Sango glared at him as she stood up from where she sat with Miroku. "You are too fast for her eyes to see and you expect her to defend? Besides you don't need to push her so hard! As far as we know you are the only one in this era that can do any of the stuff you are doing."

Itachi turned his glare on her. "That we know of. The ninja that sent me back to this time and bound me and Kagome obviously can travel the times as well. What would happen to her if we were sent back into my time? She would be a target and there are those in MY time that would not hesitate to force themselves on her and/or kill her when they were done. I told everyone. I am not going to die."

Sango gasped as she starred into his cold black eyes. But he was right. If it was possible for him to be sent through time in smoke, it would be possible for Kagome to do it too. She went back to glaring at him though. "You still don't have to push her so hard!"

"Yes I do. If I do not then who will? Will our enemies when they see her getting winded after a few moments? They will but only to break her and kill her. You have to push yourself to the utmost of what your body can withstand to build up endurance."

Kagome pushed herself back up on her feet. "It's okay Sango. I told him not to go easy on me remember? I am tired of being the one everyone has to protect. I want to be able to protect myself. I can't do that without this training."

Sango sighed as she sat back down. "Just be careful Kagome."

Kagome winked at her and nodded. "Besides, he can't force me to the point I pass out or die or his plan of 'I will not die' would back fire on him wouldn't it?"

Sango smiled as she laughed. "I guess you're right about that one. I never looked at it like that. With his body going through what your body does, he can't push it that far can he."

Miroku smiled as well. "Then let us watch as you grow stronger Kagome!"

Kagome nodded then turned back to Itachi. Between him and Kaede she has gotten better at using her arrows and she could now charge her entire body with her purification powers. 'I still don't know if this is ever going to be enough.'

Itachi saw that look in her eyes. It was a look of defeat and that is not the frame of mind that he needed her in to finish the training. "Change of pace. Your friend has appoint. You can't see it, you can't dodge or defend against it."

Kagome nodded. "But how am I supposed to be able to see you? I swear you could circle Mt. Fuji three times before I could even stand up."

Itachi didn't reply to that but instead stepped up beside her. "Do as I do and hold your hand out like this."

Kagome nodded as she held her right hand out, fingers pointing up and together. "Now what?"

"Now just as you focus your purification powers into an arrow you are getting ready to fire, focus and do the same thing, but in your hand."

"Just focus on flooding it to my hand?"

Itachi nodded then watched her hand as she did it the first time. He glanced at her face and then sighed. She was doing it, just her hand was glowing a bright pink. "Open your eyes Kagome and look at your hand."

Kagome opened her eyes and gasped when she saw her hand. "My hand is glowing. Oh my God!"

Itachi sighed. "Yes. And now your hand is a strong a weapon as your arrows are. Barely touch the tree right next to us."

Kagome gulped as she turned and just barely tapped the tree and then gasped when the whole thing from where her hand was up fell over, a perfect cut in its place. "No way! I did that! You used that damned speed you got and you cut down the tree! No way!"

Itachi glared down at her. "What would the point be of me making you think you are stronger than you are? It would only result in us both getting killed if you thought you could do something that you couldn't do."

Kagome gasped as she looked up at him then back to her still glowing hand. "I guess that you have a point there. If I think I can kill anyone or do anything, and can't it wouldn't turn out good for either of us would it."

"Exactly. Now let your focus on your hand fade, and your purification powers will fade as well."

Kagome did as he asked and was wide eyed when she watched the pink glow fade to nothing. Just wanting to check before she touched anyone she smacked what was left of the same tree and then winced. "Yep power gone, that hurt."

Itachi sighed inwardly. The last two weeks have been nothing but pure torture for him. She was absent minded most of the time. And the other she was far to stubborn for her own good. Be that as it may, he may have a way to make her see him. "New exercise."

Kagome glared up at him. "Can't I have a little bit of time to get over the fact that I just knocked down a hundred foot tree?"

"You may be as sarcastic as you wish Kagome but we are moving on. I will not let up on you."

Kagome sighed. "I get that. But you need to understand one thing. I don't have the fighting experience you do. I don't have the powers you do. No one in this era has the kind of training you do. Hell in this era somewhere in the North the first people using karate are just perfecting it. So in my time, yeah none of this can happen."

Itachi sighed as he glared down at her. "Let me show you some of the things that you will be up against if we do get sent to my time Kagome. Just like before the only result for you will be a slight headache."

Kagome sighed. "If it means that I can stand still for more than two seconds then fine."

Itachi closed his eyes then opened them with the mongekyo sharingan. He then went through his own memories and showed Kagome some of the strongest ninja and kunoichi in his time. Focusing on Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. And their teachers the Sanin. After about ten minutes of memories he let it fade and caught her.

Pulling the pill out of his pack he sighed as he felt the daggers from the slayer's eyes digging into his back once again. "She has to become at least as strong as the ones that I showed her just now or we are dead for sure."

"People from this time right?"

"No. From my own. Think about it. I am here, and she can travel somehow back and forth on her own free will. The ninja that sealed our fates likes to play mind games. Before this is released off of us we will end up in both her time and my time. She has to be stronger."

Sango sighed as she moved to sit next to Kagome and watched as he held his hand on her stomach and did what he called 'funneling his chakra into her'. "I get that. It is just, that she is like a sister to me. My kids will one day call her Aunt Kagome. And we have only known you for two weeks."

"When you first met the group did you know any of them from anywhere?"

"No. In fact when I first met them I tried to kill Inuyasha because the demon Naraku told me that he killed my clan and village. I didn't know it then that he was just trying to use me to kill Inuyasha for something that he really didn't do."

"However you stayed with them and gave them your trust."

Sango glared into cold black eyes. "And none of them told me the day that I met them that they killed not only their clan but entire family in a single night except for their little brother."

Itachi closed his eyes as he stood up and crossed his arms. "True. But considering the situation and the fact that I refuse to die for anyone, you need to back off and realize that so long as she is with me she is safer than anywhere else in time and space that she could be."

Sango sighed and looked down at her best friend. "I get that. It is just really hard for me to trust after knowing what you have done."

Itachi turned his back on her and glared over his shoulder. "I understand this. However, don't you trust her?"

"I would trust her with my life!"

"Then why can't you trust her judgment on this? I CAN'T and WON'T let anything happen to her. If something happens to her then it happens to me. I have a mission that I must finish as soon as possible and that means that I have to live to get this done and be on…" Then his eyes went wide as he looked down at Kagome with shocked eyes. Quickly calling his sharingan. "That is impossible."

Sango looked up at him then back down at Kagome and back up at him. "What?"

"She is producing chakra of her own? I gave her only enough to neutralize the effects of the jutsu. But it is growing in amount with her. The eight gates of chakra are visible now. This changes everything."

"How?"

"Now she must become as strong, and fast as me. And she must not hesitate to kill if the need comes up. Or it will mean nothing but torture for her."

"What the hell?!"


	11. Chapter 11

Kagome groaned as she sat up and held her head. "Oh man. I think my head hurts worse now than when you did it the first time."

Itachi stood over her. "I have two things to tell you. You pick. The news about what you can do or explain who you saw."

Kagome looked up at him. "Tell me who I saw. Of all of them two of them really, really, REALLY scared the hell out of me."

Itachi nodded. "The first image that I showed you is of a boy named Naruto Uzumaki. He is my mission I talk about. To extract a beast that is sealed with him called the Nine Tailed Fox. However that is proving more and more difficult with the new jutsu he learns and his strength. He can now stand on his own with me without getting winded. He will be one that will be trying to get you away from me, and kill me."

Kagome gasped. "No way! I don't wanna die!"

"The girl with the pink hair. Her name is Sakura Haruno. Exactly why she is furious with me stems from my targeting Naruto and killing my clan. She is in love with my brother Sasuke and says she will stop at nothing to see that the pain he feels over what I did is lifted. And vows to protect Naruto from me."

Kagome dropped her head. "Same thing as Naruto huh?"

"That's right. The one with the black hair. That is my little brother. He is not as strong as I am yet. He has yet to cut all bonds that he holds to let his revenge on me take total control of his life. Until he does that he will never have the strength to beat me. But he may target you if he knows that by killing you he will kill me."

Kagome dropped to her hands and knees. "Oh man I should have asked what was new with me first. But that wasn't the one that scared me."

"That would no doubt be Orochimaru. He uses snakes in all his jutsu save one. It is a reanimation jutsu. With that one, he can take on the appearance of anyone that he wants. Because he literally, takes all his chakra, and jutsu learned and moves his soul into a new body, forcing the other one out. He then takes control of that body and jutsu."

"The white haired guy and the blond girl?"

Itachi opened his eyes. "Jiraiya and Tsunade. Together with Orochimaru, they all hailed from the Leaf village just like I did, and Naruto, and Sakura do. Sasuke use to live there as well. They are known as the Sanin. Even those in in the organization that I belong to, the Akatsuki, won't fight them. Or they will loose."

Kagome blinked. "Then how about we just die right here and right now. Oh man."

"The only ones of them that will try to kill you are Sasuke and Orochimaru. The others will see you as kidnapped and try to 'rescue' you from me. That is why I push you the way that I do. And now that you can do more than defend. It makes what I have to do easier."

Kagome looked at him with an odd look. "It hasn't been that easy to me the last two weeks."

Itachi smiled a rare smile as he looked down at her. "But now I have something that will spur you into trying harder and focusing better."

"What might that be?"

"Simple. You can now produce chakra. I used mine and gave you enough for the pill to take effect and cleanse you of the effects of my jutsu. But it should be gone by now. Instead you are making more of it. Your body is now producing chakra. And that will help you greatly."

"Okay? So I can do the whole breathing fire thing and stuff?"

"More. Now for the kick in your ass."

"Hey!"

"Orochimaru will want you now. To do tests on you, and in the end take your body. The only way to stop him from doing that is to get stronger than him. Fast."

x

Sasuke glared as he walked through what seemed like an endless expanse of woods. "I swear this version of Japan is nothing but trees."

"Master Jaken! Wait for me!"

"Hurry up you insolent girl! We must hurry and get back before Lord Sesshomaru returns!" Jaken glared behind him as he ran on ahead of the girl and two headed dragon. He didn't want Sesshomaru to return back to where he left them or it would be his head that would roll! He broke through a bush and stopped with a gasp and a glare. "Who are you?"

Sasuke glared down at the toad. "Your executioner if you do not shut up."

"Master Jaken who are you…." Rin came through the trees and stopped and could only stare as she started shaking when she looked into his eyes. He was evil! She could sense it. "Lord Sesshomaru…."

Sesshomaru walked up to stand next to Rin with an expressionless face. "Do you have business with us?"

Sasuke glared. "I am looking for my brother who travels with a girl that dresses different from you. Kagome is her name."

Sesshomaru sighed. "I see. You want my brother's wench. She is five days from here that way." Then he started to walk on with Rin gripping his hakama.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder as he continued to walk. "I am a demon. I can smell better than you. And I passed them going that way as I travel this way looking for Naraku."

Sasuke smiled. "Well since you pointed me in the right direction, I will do the same for you. Go that way." Then he pointed South East. "Keep going that way and you will come right to it."

Sesshomaru glared. "You are sure?"

"Oh yeah. Now I have a brother to kill." Then he was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

Kagome looked up at him with wide eyes. "He will what!?"

Itachi nodded. "You are a miko that uses a strong purification power."

"Hai."

"Now you produce chakra just like a ninja."

"What does that have to do with what you just told me about snake man?"

Itachi glared down at her now. "He doesn't care if the body he takes over is a man or a woman. If they have a large amount of chakra or a jutsu that he wants he doesn't care. After the body heals, he can change it's form and bring his true body out. A woman who didn't have chakra two weeks ago and does now and has the pure powers of a miko. If he didn't take over your body he would dissect you and experiment on you until you died."

Kagome sat back next to Sango with wide eyes staring down at the ground. 'I got two choices here and it really isn't a choice. Well three. I can die, fight or get chopped up. Not really a choice here.' She stands up and glares up at him. "No freako is going to do anything to me, I don't want to die so that leaves only one choice."

Itachi smiled as he nodded. "We will go as fast as we can. Starting right now. You will learn a very basic jutsu to start with."

"What is that?"

"Transformation Jutsu. You do a certain hand sign and imagine yourself transforming into someone else. You take on that persons look as well as their voice."

Kagome nodded. "What do I have to do?"

Itachi held his hands up and showed her the hand sign for the transformation jutsu. "Hold it up in front of your chest like this. Then focus on pouring small amounts of your bodies energy into it. Both Miko and chakra will flow through. After a few seconds, say the words 'Transformation Jutsu' and if you got the porportions of both you bodies energy, chakra and miko powers right you will transform into anyone. But you have to know what they look like to do it."

Sighing Kagome made the sign again and held it in front of her chest. She didn't know what she was doing but she had to try. She didn't want to die and Orochimaru scared the hell out of her when she saw him. His eyes were pure evil. More so than Itachi's.

After a few seconds she felt a warm sensation and then took in an awkward breath. "Transformation Jutsu."

Sango watched as there was a puff of smoke and then gasped when she was looking at an exact copy of herself! "Ka….Kagome?"

Kagome opened one eye. "Do I look hideous or did it actually work?"

Sango smiled as she gulped. "Oh no it worked. I feel like I am looking into a mirror. It is exactly right!" Then she glared past her at Miroku. "Don't you dare monk."

Itachi nodded with a slight smile. 'She will catch onto this faster than I thought. That is a good thing.' "Now simply make the same sign and say 'release' to break the jutsu."

Nodding she did just that and then looked down and she was back in her uniform. "You mean that I actually transformed into you and I looked just like you?"

"Exactly! It was amazing Kagome!"

Stepping up behind her Itachi glared down at her. "That is chump change. But the fact that you did do it so effortlessly, means that you will catch on very fast. The next couple of days we will focus on bettering your sight, and learning the handsigns."

"Oh man more being shoved to the ground."

"Iie. This you get to sit for. You will learn the signs first. Then we will focus on training your eyes by keeping up with me as I move a little here and a little there. Each day moving faster until I am at full speed."

Kagome arched her eyebrow and cocked her head. "Well that isn't so bad. And it makes sense I guess." Then she giggles and rubs the back of her head. "Plus I get to sit while we do at least the hand signs right?"

"Hai."

"Perfect!"

x

Inuyasha glared from where he stood in a tree. He couldn't believe that Kagome was still alive or what all he has seen. "She is much stronger than I ever gave her credit for. I could have helped her come this far if I would have only…."

But his words and thoughts trailed off as he watched her with the new guy. She smiled that bright smile she always had when she would talk to him, with this guy. He could see the shine coming back into her eyes. He dropped his head as he gripped his sword tighter and tighter. If he hadn't been so blind to what she could have been, and what she really meant to him then he wouldn't be on the outside looking in.

Not being able to stand watching much more he jumped from the tree and walked off in the other direction. He hadn't gone to Kikyo like they thought that he would. But instead focused on finding Naraku on his own. But could not help checking on her from time to time.

"My clone has forgotten all about you hasn't she. So why haven't you come to me Inuyasha? Does she really mean more to you than I do?"

Inuyasha didn't even look up. "Don't even go there Kikyo. Had Ursuei not brought you back, we wouldn't even be talking right now and things may have been different between me and Kagome."

Kikyo glared as she crossed her arms. "You did fall in love with her didn't you? Do you really think that it is that strong since you came to me whenever I called?"

"Goodbye Kikyo."

"What the hell….." Then her words were cut short when Inuyasha turned and charged her, using a transformed Tetsusaiga and cut her in half releasing her souls into the sky. "Why….Inu…yasha?"

Inuyasha turned and watched as her face began to lose color. "I cannot go to hell with you Kikyo. I don't know if I will ever be able to fix things with Kagome. Or if her heart is even still mine right now. But I want to make up for how I have treated her when it came to you all this time. But so long as you are here, even in your undead form, it will make it hard cause you won't leave me be. Or her. Goodbye Kikyo, please forgive me."


	13. Chapter 13

Over the last three days Kagome focused and finally could recite and do all the hand signs that Itachi tells her is the core to doing all jutsu. And now she stood and waited for him to figure out what she was going to do next. Though with everything running through her mind at the moment she didn't know what to expect.

"Kagome."

Shaking her head she sighed as she glanced up at him then looked back down. "Sorry. I have just been thinking a lot."

"There is no time right now for thinking. You have to learn how to defend against attacking jutsu."

"What can a miko with or without chakra, and no battle experience do right now Itachi? I mean really I can still barely see you!"

Kagome looked around Itachi the gasped as she took a step back. It was Sasuke! 'Oh man this isn't good.'

Running to stand next to Kagome, Sango and Miroku took up their guard. Sango narrows her eyes. "He is dressed odd like you Itachi. Who is he?"

Itachi smiled a feral smile. "I see. So he brought you here as well so you can try to get your revenge eh Sasuke?"

Kagome looked up at him with an odd look. It seemed like he was almost enjoying the fact that Sasuke showed up like this. 'What is he thinking? I wish I could get inside that mind of his.'

Sasuke glared at his brother. "I know the type of connection that you have with that girl Itachi Uchiha."

"So you intend to get your revenge by killing the girl? That is a cowards way out Sasuke. It won't mean a thing."

Glaring Sasuke slowly pulled his sword. "It is not like that. I will not take pleasure in running her through with this to kill you. You on the other hand I will take great pleasure in it!" Then in an instant he was gone.

Kagome gasped as she jumped back, grabbing Sango and Miroku at the same time pulling them back. "Get back!"

Itachi glanced at her as he effortlessly pulled a senbon out to block Sasuke. 'This will be a good test for her.' Then he turned his mongekyo on his brother. "Show me the hate you possess Sasuke. Show me the anger."

With a glare for his brother Sasuke also smiled. "With pleasure!" Then the fight was on.

Kagome stood back with Sango and Miroku. She couldn't see everything in detail, but she could see flashes of Sasuke's white shirt, and Itachi's black and read cloak. "Man they are moving so fast."

With a sigh and closed eyes Sango nodded. "I can't even see them. I just hope that I can sense them before they get near me."

"No, Itachi is keeping the fight well away from us Sango. I can see."

Sango turned wide eyes to Kagome who seemed to be following it. "You can really see them moving right now?"

Squinting she tried her hardest to follow them. "Barely. I see a blur of white and black, then I see them for a split second then it is back to blurs."

"That is still impressive. We can't even sense where they are going or where they were and you can see them. You have improved more than even he will have expected." Miroku smiled at Kagome. 'Inuyasha if you had only known what giving her a little faith might do for her. And now you have lost her forever. You truly are a fool.'

X

Sasuke landed and fell to one knee, completely out of breath and sweating. He glared up at his brother who didn't even look the least bit winded. "Why!? Why can't I touch you!?"

"Because you don't have the hate you need. You have not let hate fill your soul with the need of revenge. Until then you can't beat me. And you have not severed your bond with Naruto like you insist you have. Otherwise you should have already killed me. You are not ready to defeat me Sasuke."

"Bastard. I will kill you. Do you hear me? I WILL KILL YOU!" Then Sasuke lunged one more time only to receive a firm fist in his gut. He fell to the ground and as his eyes closed he glared up at his brother. "Next time…I….will….kill you."

Turning with a sigh he saw Kagome's eyes wide and filled with tears. He walked toward them, knowing that they already knew everything. "So as not to deal with him when he first wakes up we should move out." Then walks on past them heading in a different direction.

Kagome sighs as she turns to follow after him. "Call me crazy but I think it actually does hurt him knowing what he did."

With a sarcastic glare and smile Sango hefted her Hiraikotsu on her back. "Don't count on it. Only reason we have to trust him with you is he seems pretty intent on not dying."

Falling into step with Sango Kagome shook her head no. "I don't think so Sango. I am telling you I get the feeling that he is remorseful for what he has done to his family, clan and friends, even if it is a little bit."

Miroku sighs as he takes his place behind the two women. "I doubt that. He said he wanted that power, and he wanted to kill his clan to test that power right? Everyone can be forgiven of their sins if they want it. I don't think he wants to be forgiven."

Not saying anything more Kagome just looked at the back of Itachi's head as they walked on. She just had this gut feeling that they were wrong about him and that time would prove she was right on this. 'I just hope that Inuyasha doesn't turn out to be right. It would suck to let myself get close to him, just for him to be the one to kill me when it is over with.'


	14. Chapter 14

Itachi stood next to Kagome as she rested against a Cherry Blossom tree. It had been a full week and a half since his fight with Sasuke. And she never once acted like she didn't trust him. 'But she doesn't trust me enough to show me how she travels through time.' He cracked his eyes as he looked down at her and realized that she had fallen asleep. He stood there for a moment looking at her.

It was when she was asleep and he could stare at her at length that he realized what was going on. It was only a few days ago he realized that for the first time since his little brother, he wanted to protect something. He wanted to protect her. It didn't take him long to fall in love with her. But now the question was how to tell her. Or if he should tell her.

"It becomes addicting watching a woman sleep doesn't it?"

Closing his eyes Itachi didn't even bother to look up at the monk. "Humph."

Miroku stopped as he too smiled and looked down at Kagome. "You know it is clear as day. On both of you, you both just need to stop being so stubborn and tell the other."

"What are you talking about Monk?"

Opening the blanket that he had with him for her he smiled. "Evening is coming it is no shocker that she is passed out. She pushes herself each day with you to show that she does trust you. You do know that don't you?"

When he didn't get anything from him he bent over and covered Kagome with the blanket then stood and started to walk back toward the camp stopping a few feet. "Itachi."

"What is it?"

"If Kagome ever does show you how she travels through time. And you do end up back in your time, you will take care of her won't you?"

"I will not let her die if that is what you are talking about."

"No. If she can't get back here. Even if the curse or jutsu is broken and she is stuck in your world, you won't just dump her in the closest village and leave her right?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Turning a hard glare for their new travel companion Miroku never flinched. "She is like a sister to me and Sango. We just want to see her happy. And if she can't ever come back here, we want to make sure that she is with someone who makes her truly happy in whatever time she is in."

"I would not just drop her."

"Because of the feelings I see swimming in your eyes, or because of what she can do and what her worth would be in your world?"

Itachi blinked for a moment and then closed his eyes with his face looking down. "My reasons are my own, but I can say it would not be because of whatever worth she has or doesn't have in my world. That I can say for certain."

With an annoyed sigh Miroku turned and walked back toward the camp. "That is something we will except for now. Do be sure to bring her back to camp soon." Then he walked on away.

Itachi opened his eyes to gaze at the monk till he was gone, then turned his head to look down at the girl next to him. He knew he was in love with her but wondered if he should tell her. His life was not an easy one. And if he didn't tell her then it would be better for her in the long run.

"You are known as Itachi Uchiha?"

Turning Itachi narrowed his eyes. He didn't sense anyone coming! "Who is asking?"

Kanna turned her mirror and held it up as she stayed looking down. "Look in my mirror and see for yourself. The first step to being free of the spell the binds you."

Itachi adverted his eyes down to her mirror and then narrowed his eyes. Kabuto. But what he heard puzzled him more than anything. It was a riddle that he said as he talked to Orochimaru. "What was that riddle?"

"That riddle is the key to breaking it." Then she turned and walked away into the darkening woods without a word.

With a glare Itachi turned back to Kagome and gently lifted her into his arms and headed for the camp. The little girl and the riddle that he heard foremost in his mind.

X

Sango looked up with a sigh of relief when Itachi walked into camp carrying the sleeping Kagome in his arms. "I hoped she would have woke up when you lifted her. I will have to make sure to feed her a lot for breakfast."

Itachi laid her down where either the slayer or monk had already laid out her sleeping bag then walked over and sat on the ground leaning against a tree not far away. "Tell me something. Have you ever came across a little girl dressed in white with white hair that holds a mirror?"

Sango and Miroku both gasped as Shippo jumped up on Miroku's shoulder. They just looked at each other then back to Itachi. It was Shippo though that broke the silence. "That is Kanna of the Void. She is one of Naraku's most dangerous incarnations because she has no scent and no aura."

Nodding Miroku crossed his arms. "Indeed. She alone nearly succeeded in whipping us all out when she was first created. Now Naraku uses her as a spy to get information about his enemies."

"I see."

Sango was blinking now as she took him a bowl of food. "Did you see her?"

"Just before I came back here. She showed me a man from my time talking in a riddle and said it was the key to unlocking the jutsu."

Sitting down by the fire with their own food Sango, Miroku and Shippo all just stared at him. Miroku cleared his throat and met Itachi's black eyes with his own blue gray ones. "What was the riddle? I don't want to brag but I use to be able to solve any riddle given."

Sango glared over at him with a mock glare. "Right."

"I did!"

"Melt what cannot be melted. Give faith in something new. Grasp the hand that reaches out. First touch will make it weak. First joining will break it."

Miroku thought for a moment. This was going to be a hard one but he was sure that he could figure it out. It would help Kagome so he was most certainly going to give it a try.

Sango started to glare as the minutes went past. "You have no clue where to even start do you Miroku?"

"I will figure it out."

Itachi sighed as he closed his eyes. If it was Kabuto who made the riddle to break it, then he knew it had to do with something about him and/or Kagome. He just had to figure it out.

X

Kanna walked back into Naraku's palace and went straight to his side. "The deed is done."

"Good work Kanna."

Orochimaru looked up with a glare. "What deed is done?"

Naraku smiled as he met the snake's gaze. "The deed is done. She told Itachi how to break the jutsu that you have him and Inuyasha's wench under."

Kabuto turned from healing Sasuke with a glare. "You did what!"

"Well not in exact words I didn't."

Orochimaru glared. "What exactly did you do then?"

"Kanna here showed him where Kabuto was telling us the riddle that needed to be solved in order to break the jutsu that you set on them. Nothing more and nothing less."

Orochimaru was on his feet now with a glare. "Itachi Uchiha is not stupid. He will figure it out."

"But wasn't you who said sealing him to the girl would be his downfall because he is incapable of falling in love with anyone?"

"That is besides the point!"

Sasuke stood and sighed with a glare behind closed eyes. "It doesn't matter. I will kill Itachi before he has time to figure anything out."

Naraku smiled as he watched the trio leave the room with glares on their faces. "This game is going to get really interesting Kanna. I can't wait to see how it unfolds."


	15. Chapter 15

Another week has passed and Kagome sat in the hot spring with Sango. Though it is usually a time to relax and talk, since Itachi has her training for everything! Kagome was confused and wasn't that talkative right now. 'Oh man why him?'

Sango smiled as she closed her eyes. "Wondering why you traded in one jerk for someone who might have to go back to a different time that you can't go to?"

Gasping and her face red Kagome looked up at Sango with a startled gasp. "How did you….."

"Come on Kagome. You are like my sister. I know you better than you know yourself sometimes."

"I know. And I have Sango. I have fallen in love with him. But he always seems so cold and distant. I get a glimpse of emotions in his eyes sometimes but that is about it."

"So what is really bothering you?"

"I miss my family Sango. It has been three weeks since I had been back to see them, and I didn't get to see Mama or Grandpa then. And now it has been a few more weeks." She took a deep breath then sighed. "I want to trust him I just don't know if I should yet."

Putting her arm around her best friend in the world Sango smiled. "Kagome follow your heart."

"Look what that got me last time."

"YOU know what I mean. Not in love, but if you believe in your heart that you can trust him, like Koga, then do it."

Kagome sighed as she nodded. "Then tomorrow can we use Kirara to go back to the well? It will give me time to talk to him and tell him what to expect if we get to go to my time."

"Of course."

X

Itachi cracked his eyes to see Kagome walking toward the camp with Sango then stepped off the monk's robes. 'Fool.'

Sango had not noticed what was going on and blinked. "Itachi why were you standing on Miroku's robes?" Then her eyes narrowed at Miroku. "As if I have to really ask. Hentai!"

Letting out an awkward laugh Miroku rubbed the back of his neck. "It was nothing like that Sango. I was merely going to go and get some more firewood."

"In the direction of the hot spring."

Both girls turned to Itachi then glared down at the monk. Sango crossed her arms. "I swear! You are never going to be anymore than a damn peeping tom!"

"Oh come on Sango don't be like that. I swear that was not my intention." Then he reached out and let his hand land on her behind. Then his eyes went wide when he got the sudden sense of danger and he saw the murderous look in Sango's eyes. "Now Sango!"

Itachi cracked one eye and watched with a slight smile as the slayer slapped the monk sending him through a couple of trees. 'She would be fearsome as Tsunade back home."

"I knew you could smile!"

His smile gone and his cold eyes now looking into the depths of warm brown eyes. "Humph."

"Don't humph me. Itachi can we go for a walk. I need to talk to you." She then turned and walked off away from him. 'I hope this is right.'

With a slight smile he felt his heart race then his eyes went wide when he remembered the riddle that Kabuto had said! 'Melt what cannot be melted. Give faith in something new. Grasp the hand that reaches out. First touch will make it weak. First joining will break it. The first part! My heart is the first part of the riddle.' Once they were out of ear shot he stopped when she did and arched an eyebrow when she turned to him with watery eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I am going to show you how I travel through time tomorrow. Kirara is going to take her time and fly us back to the well while Miroku and Sango walk on back. On the way there I will tell you what you need to know about. In the event that it does work and you go to my time."

"And in the event that that you go to my time you want to know what to expect right?"

Nodding her head Kagome looked down. "Promise me that I am not doing this for nothing."

"Huh?"

"Promise me that if I put my faith in something new like this that you aren't going to squash it to a million pieces and leave me stranded. Last time I put my faith in something it was for not. I…."

Itachi reached out and put a finger to her mouth and smiled a rare but true smile down into her sparkling brown eyes. "If you put your faith in me, I will do the same. Not exactly something I am used to either. I won't let anything happen to you. Not because of what you can do, or what you are worth. Or because I do not wish to die. But because I want to protect you."

Kagome was sparsely breathing as he started to lower his lips down toward hers but stopped a breath away from her own. What she heard next made her eyes go wide as they met his black ones. Both of them pools of emotion.

With a smile Itachi stopped a hair from touching her lips. "I want to protect you because of what you have been able to do. That no one else has been able to do in a very long time. You have melted the ice that I held inside."

He then pulled a gasp from her as his lips closed the breath of space and pressed into hers with a passion that even he didn't know could exist. A passion born from the want to love someone. The want to be with someone. The want to be loved by them. To protect them from everything that might hurt them. He had not felt that need since the day Sasuke was born.

When he pulled his lips from hers Kagome opened eyes that were clouded over with emotion as she looked up into his eyes. "Itachi….."

"There is a riddle that has to do with us. I know this now. It will break it. There is no release jutsu to do on it. It is us that break it."

"Riddle?"

"Melt what cannot be melted. Give faith in something new. Grasp the hand that reaches out. First touch will make it weak. First joining will break it. The first two have already been done. Melt what cannot be melted. The day that I killed my clan a block of ice had formed around my heart. I had to do that because in truth, I did not want to test a power. I was ordered to do it by an elder and head of the Anbu Black Ops at the time. Danzo."

Her eyes wide she gasped. "If you didn't do it on your own, why didn't you turn down the order?"

"I either had to do it, or he was going to have others do it. I knew at least that if I did it, I would not prolong their suffering and their deaths would be swift."

"But Sasuke….."

"Was supposed to be killed as soon as he got home that day too. But I swore a vow to protect him and make him strong the day he was born." Closing his eyes he pulled Kagome into his arms and wrapped them around her. "Just like I am doing now. I left him alive and made him think it was my choice before I fled my village. I did it to place the seed of hate in his heart. To give him the drive to see me dead. If he could kill me then I knew he could take revenge on the man that was the cause of the Uchiha Clan's deaths."

Gripping the front of his robe Kagome let fresh tears fall from her eyes as she leaned her head against his chest. "And in doing that, you also were labeled a murder and no one but you and the man who ordered you to do it knew the truth."

"And I did not want Sasuke to know the truth. Well until now."

Looking up at him her eyes had tears streaming out of them. "Until now?"

"I have something I want to live for again. Until now I only wanted to make Sasuke hate me and grow in strength so he could kill me and take revenge for the Uchiha." He then cupped her face as he started to lower his head. "However I do believe it is time to show him the truth. Since I have someone I want to live for. To protect." He then pressed his lips to hers again.

Kagome clung to him. She fell in love with him early on but never thought that he would love her back, let alone tell her he did! She gripped the front of his robe with a death grip as she kissed him back. 'I wonder how this is going to work out.'

Pulling his lips from hers again he lifted her and headed back to camp. But he could sense something was wrong with her. "Kagome?"

"So what do we do now? After this is broken?"

"Orochimaru figured out a way to send me here to start with. I will come back for you. We can stay in this time or go to yours."

"You don't want to go back to your time?"

"In my time both of us would become the hunted and could do nothing but run. You deserve more than that. I can adapt."

Wrapping her arms around his neck Kagome smiled. "Thank you."


	16. Chapter 16

Kagome sat with a smile on her face as she leaned back into Itachi's arms. She was scared that she fell out of love with one jerk, only to fall in love with someone she couldn't have because he was from a different time than even she was. She could almost fall asleep as Kirara flew slowly through the air. But she did have to talk to him. "Itachi…."

"I doubt your time is much different from mine. The biggest thing is going to be clothes that I can adapt too."

"That's cool but I was actually going to ask you what your time is like and exactly what to expect if this doesn't take us to my time first and we end up in yours."

Itachi let out a sigh as he dropped his head to let his forehead rest on the top of her head. "If that happens I will not let go of you. And I will be counting on your barrier."

"My barrier?"

"Not even my Tsukuyomi can get through it. If any of the Ninja that are from the Leaf see me, most know of me and what I can do. They would rather flee than fight. But there are a few that are stubborn enough to fight. And all will jump to the conclusion that I have kidnapped you and you are in need of rescue."

Letting out a long sigh she closed her eyes. "And it is going to be my barrier and the way we can prove that will be the only thing that will keep them from killing you where you stand huh."

"Trying to."

"You know what I mean."

A small laugh and a kiss on her head and he sighed. "Hai. I know what you mean. Yes that is the truth of it. Though, getting them to let you stay at my side would be the hard part."

A shiver running up her spine she held onto his arm. "Lets just hope that we go to my time first okay. While we are there we can try and figure out what we can do if we end up in your time when we try to come back."

"Alright."

"Do you have electric?"

Blinking he looked down at her with an odd look. "Huh?"

"I will take that as a no. Electiric is where you have…"

"Lights and other things like that. I know what it is, just wasn't expecting that question with what we were just talking about."

Laughing Kagome looked up at him. "You should know by now to expect the unexpected with me right?"

"I should."

When she felt Kirara falling out of the sky she smiled. "There it is. That is the Bone Eaters Well. That is how I go back and forth from this time to my own."

Sliding off of the cat and then helping Kagome down Itachi arched an eyebrow at the well. "Is there some sort of spell or something you use?"

Walking up to it she looked down and smiled. "No. I just jump in. About half way down the earth at the bottom turns into a shimmering blue light, and I fall into the light, float for a few seconds, then touch down on the ground back in my time."

"Too bad you aren't going to get to go through with it."

Turning with a start Kagome and Itachi turned to see Sasuke walking toward them. While she started shaking Itachi only sighed as he smiled. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Well now is your chance."

"Indeed."

Stopping about 50 feet from them Sasuke drew his sword and glared. "His chance to what?"

With a smile Itachi moved faster than Sasuke could react and had him pinned to a tree. "There is something you need to know now Little Brother. Now that I have a reason for wanting to live instead of wanting you to kill me."

"What the hell?" But before Sasuke could say anything he found himself trapped in Itachi's Tsukuyomi, but this was different. It was like a rerun of all the good times he had when he looked up to his older brother. When he wanted to be just like him! But then it flashed to another scene. One that Itachi didn't show him that night.

*INSIDE THE TSUKUYOMI, WHAT SAUSKE SEES*

"I am giving you this order Itachi Uchiha. The Elders of the village have already agreed with me. With the exception of you, the rest of your clan are getting to out of hand. It is time they were dispatched of."

A glare on his usually emotionally face Itachi stood firm. "I refuse. How can you ask me to kill my own clan? My family?"

"I am giving you this order so that you can chose how they die and who suffers or not."

"If I refuse the order?"

"Then you will be a target as well and I will have others do it. Only you can be sure that they do not suffer. If you fail me in this mission then I will have your head. Understand?"

The seriousness of his voice, the look in his eye. He meant it. Itachi glared then turned and walked out. "Fine. But I will do it alone."

"That is fine with me."

X

The rest of the day Itachi spent keeping out of sight as he watched his little brother at school. A plan already forming in his mind to ensure that Danzo paid for what he was forcing him to do. Either way it went the Uchiha clan was going to be wiped out. 'But at least if I do it, I can set into a plan that would ensure Danzo's death. And the fall of the Leaf.'

X

Drenched in blood Itachi made his way to his home, where two of his clones kept his parents at bay while he quickly killed the rest of the clan. Making sure that they did not suffer and their deaths were quick and painless. As he walked into the training room his clones vanished. "Mother. Father."

Glaring at his son, Itachi's father took up a defensive pose. "I knew you weren't happy with the way the clan was run Itachi but to do this! Why?"

"Orders."

"What?"

Flying to his father and pinning him and his mother to the wall he envoked the Tsukuyomi and showed them exactly what was ordered of him and the choice he had been given. Stepping back a few feet he sighed and shocked both his parents as he pulled his mother into a hug. "I cannot not do it. If I didn't do it, others would have and they would have drug it out. I am sorry to have been such a disappointment to you both."

Falling to his knees his father sighed. "Even if you did leave your mother, myself and Sasuke I am sure that Danzo would see it was done at some point."

"Due to the fact that you mother and Sasuke could restart the Uchiha Clan. I will kill you both now. However I will only wound Sasuke."

His mother looked up at him as tears streamed down her face. "What?"

"Sasuke has the power to open the Tsukuyomi like I did. Before me the last one was Madara Uchiha who fought against the first. And he was the one who was controlling the Fox the night it attacked as well." He kissed his mother's forehead and then quickly delivered a blow that killed her instantly. "Father."

Walking over so he can fall over on his wife his father got down on his knees. "Why won't you kill Sasuke if you know Danzo would come after him?"

"To Danzo it will look like Sasuke somehow managed to survive the wound I had given him. Showing him that Sasuke is strong, and he will want to use that for his portion of the Anbu Black Ops. But it will be the seething, festering hate that I will leave in Sasuke's heart, making him think I did this on my own free will that will drive Sasuke to reach a level to where he can kill me. Once there, and after he kills me, he will learn the truth of what happened and extract revenge for our clan."

"I see."

Itachi let a single tear fall from one eye as he just as quickly killed his own father. His head turning when he heard the frantic calls of his brother coming, looking for him and his parents. 'I am sorry Sasuke. It is the only way I can guarantee revenge for our Clan.'

*End Jutsu*

Itachi jumped back to stand in front of Kagome glancing back at her as her shaky hands latched onto the back of his cloak. He then turned back to his brother. "You have mastered the Tsukuyomi Sasuke. You know I cannot show you something unless it actually happened. So you know that what I showed you was truth. For this girl, I cannot die. But, I can push you so you can get the revenge that our Clan needs when you return."

Sasuke let silent tears fall as he fell to his knees and dropped his sword. "I don't understand! If that was the case then why didn't you take me with you! You could have trained me and we could have gotten our revenge together! Damnit you knew that making me think…."

"It was that burning desire to get revenge, that deep inner hatred you harbored for me that pushed you to go to Orochimaru. It was that which pushed you further than you would have done had I taken you with me that night."

Sasuke stood and slowly walked over to his brother. When he got to him he quickly brought his hand up like he was going to punch him but stopped short of his nose and glared. "Damnit! I still hate you but…"

"Now you know." Itachi then turned around and lifted a still shaking Kagome into his arms. "After the jutsu is broken, and Orochimaru is dealt with. I will be returning to her time to be with her. You will return to ours and extract our revenge."

"You are not going to help me?"

"You won't need it." When Sasuke looked back up at him he smiled. "Those are the eyes of the little brother I want to see."

"Just don't die on me okay."

Looking down at Kagome as he jumped up on the side of the well he turned and looked down at Sasuke. "I have no intentions of it." Then without warning Kagome he stepped into the well.


	17. Chapter 17

Brown and black eyes watched as the dark patch of dirt morphed into a shimmering blue light that engulfed them. Itachi looked around him for a second before he felt his feet softly touch ground. "I take it that it worked?"

"Well it looks like it. But I don't know if we would be in a well in your time or not. Lets get out?"

Nodding Itachi jumped out of the well and landed in the middle of some steps and sat her down next to him. "This is your time?"

Smiling as she looked through the slits in the door. "It is. But we need to wait a few minutes before we leave the well house."

"Why?"

With a sigh she turned and leaned against the door as he finished the climb up the stairs. "My friends Eri and Ayumi. They don't know anything about my time travel and I want it to stay that way. Honestly the less that the people of this time know about my time travels or anything else the better. I don't want them to become a target for Naraku."

Pulling her into his arms he smiled as he kissed the top of her head. "Then my lips are sealed. If while we are here in your time we meet any of them at any point, then I won't say a thing."

"Thanks." Kagome hugged him back for a moment then turned and looked through the slits again and saw that they were gone. She slid the door open and looked around. "Good they are gone. Come on. I hope Mama is….

Itachi followed her out of the door then they both stopped and turned to see the glare of an old man who stood there with sutras. "Kagome?"

Glaring Kagome crossed her arms. "Really Grandpa? Would I have been holding his hand if he was dangerous?"

"Where is Inuyasha?"

"Gone and good reddens!"

"Kagome is that you? Who is your friend?"

Turning when she heard her mother's voice Kagome smiled as tears misted in her eyes. She rushed too her and hugged her with a smile. "Mama! I am sorry that I didn't get to come back sooner but I was learning some new stuff and lost track of time."

Sora hugged her daughter with a smile. There was something different about her. A glance up into her friend's onyx eyes and the emotion that swam in them and figured it was him that had the change in her daughter. Pulling from her arms Sora whipped her tears from her eyes. "Don't be so sad. You always come back and see me and that is all that matters. I know you can hold your own."

With a smile Kagome nodded then she looked up at Itachi as he stepped up behind her. "Mama this is Itachi Uchiha." Then her eyes took on a worried look as she turned back to her mother's eyes. "Can we talk inside?"

"Of course."

Itachi wrapped his arm around her waist as he followed her in the house. This wasn't exactly like his world, but it was damn close to his. And he knew this was a world that he would be able to be happy in with her. 'Provided it works out that way.'

Once in the house Kagome sat down on the couch next to Itachi and sighed. "Mama I don't know where Inuyasha is. I don't know if I am ever going to get to see him again. I would like to since he was the first friend I made in the past. But I just got tired of the way he acted like he cared about me as more than a friend and then would run off to Kikyo. About the time that I sent him away from me I met Itachi and he started traveling with us and helping me with my miko powers. And…"

Smiling Sora stood up and shook her head side to side. "No need to finish it Kagome I understand." Then her eyes flickered to Itachi. "You know about it then?"

"Hai."

"It will be different right?"

"Hai."

With a nod and a smile Sora put her hands behind her back. "Kagome why don't you show him around the shrine while I start fixing lunch. And don't worry about Grandpa I will go and get him and make him help me with dinner."

Kagome smiled as she stood up and took his hand. "Actually Mama I think we will just go up to my room for a little while. Where is Sota?"

"He is at a friends house. He will be home soon."

Nodding Kagome lead him up the stairs and into her room where she sighed as she flopped down on the bed and closed her eyes. "I have missed my bed so much."

Looking around her room Itachi smiled as his eyes settled on her. "Your time is not as different from mine as you thought it would be."

"Really?"

"Iie." Itachi then reached down and pulled her up to stand before him and smiled as he tilted her head to look up to him. "A world I can defiantly live in."

"That's good."

Itachi then brought his mouth down on hers in a fiery kiss as his arms wrapped around her waist, pressing her against his body. After a moment he opened his mouth and slid his tongue along her lips pulling a gasp from her, and taking that chance to delve his tongue into her mouth to dance with her own.

Kagome sighed as his lips pressed against hers. Her heart started racing. She had longed so much to be kissed, to be loved and to be held by the one she loved, it was overwhelming her. Granted it was not Inuyasha like she had hoped at one point in time. But in a way this was much better for her.

When she felt his tongue slide across her lips she gasped as her lips parted, then she gasped again as her eyes flew open only to flutter shut when he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She felt like someone other than herself as she instinctively lifted her tongue to dance with his as she let her hands slide up his chest to wrap around his neck.

Itachi deepened the kiss even more as he held her hard against her body. After a few moments though he jerked his mouth away from her and joined her in gasping. They were glowing! Then his eyes went even wider. The riddle! It was another part of it!

Kagome looked down at herself and started shaking. "What is going on here?"

"The riddle. I know how to break it."

Her eyes extra wide as she looked up at him with a gasp. "You do?"

"Hai. Though I will not break it yet. Not until after we are sent to my time."

"Well will you at least tell me?"

Jerking her hard against his body again he bore down on her mouth once again in a fiery passion that even he didn't know existed. After a moment he moved his lips from hers. "The riddle is this. Melt what cannot be melted. Give faith in something new. Grasp the hand that reaches out. First touch will make it weak. First joining will break it. You have melted my heart I thought was a block of ice forever. That is the first part. Melt what cannot be melted."

"Okay."

"The second part, give faith in something new. We have both done that. I have put faith in you, told you the full truth of what and who I am. You have put faith in something new as well. You have put your faith in me that I won't break your heart."

"But the riddle says nothing about a kiss."

"The first touch. That has to refer to the kiss. That has to be what the glow was."

"Okay so that only leaves two. Grasp the hand that reaches out. And first joining will break it."

With a sigh Itachi dropped his head to rest his forehead on her head. "I do not quite know what grasp the hand that reaches out means. That one still stumps me. But after that is figured out, the first joining will break it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Our first time together."


	18. Chapter 18

Kagome gasped as her eyes went wide. When she lost her virginity is when the spell would be broken and they wouldn't be bound together anymore. Then she gasped. "The first touch will make it weak."

"Huh?"

Looking up into his eyes her eyes went wild as she clung to him. "But what if by weakening that, we can't prove to those in your time that we really are bound together. Shouldn't we make sure that we can still prove it the way that…" Then she stopped as he put a finger to her mouth.

Pulling a senbon out of his pack Itachi once again pricked a finger and held hers up to show the blood. "Weakening it would not change it. We will still be able to do that when we get back to my time. For now, we should stay here and let you relax a little."

"But what about Sango and…"

"Now that Sasuke knows the truth he won't attack them and will turn on Orochimaru and Kabuto. No doubt knowing we were with them, he will show himself to ask if we are back yet and how long they expect us to be gone."

With a sigh Kagome slumped fully into his arms as she smiled. "Good. I was worried about that."

"Kagome! Itachi! Time to eat!"

With a smile then a down cast embarrassed face Kagome turned for the door. "Oh man."

Taking her hand and leading her out of her room Itachi smiled down at her. "You need to eat."

"Ya think!"

Kagome then took her place leading him down stairs and to the kitchen. They sat side by side as they talked with her mom and Itachi was patient with her brother and his relentless questions. And even her Grandpa with his glares and insults. When they were done eating lunch Kagome sighed as she stretched her arms. "Mama I never get tired of your cooking. Never."

"You are good too."

Giggling Kagome leaned over against Itachi with her head resting on his shoulder. "I know. But nothing is like Mama's Cooking as they say. I love it and will till the day I die."

"Then how about you and Itachi go and get me something to make for dinner?"

Blinking Kagome looked at her mother then at Itachi and sighed. "Mom he can't just go around like that in this time. He doesn't look as weird as Inuyasha does in his clothes but they are still different."

"Then go find him something of your father's to put on."

Her eyes went wide then half closed as she thought about her father. "Do you think that Papa would mind?"

Shaking her head no Sora smiled. "Knowing your father, he would see that sparkle that is back in your eyes cause of him and do the same thing."

"Really?"

"Go get him changed while I make out a list."

After her daughter and the man that she hoped would keep his promise to keep her happy left the room she smiled as she started a list. 'Katsuie. Help them out with whatever they are going through right now. You can do it with where you are at more than I can stuck here. You see it, how happy she is with him. Help your daughter.'

"I don't like him."

Blinking as she turned and looked at her father-in-law Sora blinked. "What do you like about him? The fact that he is respectful more than Inuyasha was or the fact that your granddaughter is having her heart healed by him?"

With a glare for her and crossed arms Grandpa huffed. "I don't like him because I can sense an evil about him that I never got from Inuyasha. He was an indecisive idiot but he wasn't evil. This one has a dark, evil side. I know it."

With a sigh as she finished her list Sora half smiled. "You are always thinking that someone is something they are not. They will be fine. And I have a feeling that you might want to get used to seeing him. I have a sneaking feeling in just a couple of years they are going to be right out there in the guest house with their own family."

"You said that about Inuyasha too."

"This one is different."

"Mama we are ready."

Turning around to see him standing there wearing a pair of her late husband's jeans and t-shirt she smiled as her eyes misted over. He even looked like him a little standing there like that. "He looks great Kagome. Here is the list. I also want you to drop Sota off at another friends house on the way, and pick him up on the way home."

Taking the list Kagome smiled as she turned to head for the door. "Right mom. Come on Sota!"

"Coming Sis!"

Itachi held Kagome's hand as they walked down the long stairs of the shrine. He then looked down to his left side and noticed that her brother was still staring at him. "What else do you wanna ask?"

"What kind of power do you have?"

"Why?"

"I just wanna know. Please?"

Stopping at mid-point Itachi smiled when he spied the lilies on the other side of the road. "See the lilies over there."

"Yeah?"

"I have one."

Sota looked up at him as he held the Lillie and gasped. "How did you do that!?"

"I can move really fast and use magic of sorts to do things. But I will show you those another time."

"Promise?"

"Hai."

Now at the bottom of the steps just as the bus pulled up Kagome smiled. "So what friend are you going to go see this time Sota?"

Smiling up at his sister he laughed. "I am going to Tsuji's house."

Blinking Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Wait don't you usually spend the whole day there not just a shopping trip?"

Laughing again Sota winked at her. "That is true when I go with mom. Mom doesn't spend forever shopping like you do. Mom is done in a hour or two, you are always three or four hours to say the least."

"Shut up brat."

"It's true!"

"I said can it!"

X

"Where is this at? I have never gotten it before?" Kagome strolled isle to isle in the larger super market looking for the things on her mother's list. But there was one thing that she was having trouble finding. Looking down at her watch she glared. She had dropped Sota off at his friend's nearly four hours ago. 'Damn him.'

Then Kagome looked back to find Itachi looking behind him. "Itachi? Something wrong."

Closing his eyes Itachi turned and walked up to her. "Nothing. Just looking around."

"Okay. Well I can't find this, but with the steak and stuff Mama is having us get I know what it is that she is going to make for dinner. She is making steak, vegetables, rice and a few other things with homemade ice cream for dessert. She will have to come with me another day and show me where this is."

Nodding to her as he smiled Itachi took her hand when he felt the eyes on him again. They were not hunting exactly but he didn't like it. It was like he was a piece of meat on display for anyone to see and take. 'In for a big shock.'

Kagome was headed for the check out when she gasped. "I almost forgot something. Then she smiled as she put Itachi in line and giggled. "Just stand here in line I will be right back."

Itachi nodded then let his eyes drift shut. Only to have them open instantly when he heard twin screams. One of them Kagome's! He turned and glared when he saw someone standing there with his arm around her waist, a knife to her throat, someone else standing next to her with the girl that was staring at him the whole time the same way. And a third with a gun pointed at everyone. 'Damn.'

The gunman smiled as he fired a shot in the air and all the girls screamed. "Now. We came in here for two things. A couple of girls to have some fun with and money. Bring all the money to me and put it in the bag! Now!"

Itachi let his eyes flicker to Kagome's and saw the pleading in her eyes. Though she was training, she was scared to death with the knife to her throat. As she would have been not having had battle experience. He took a step away from the cart and crossed his arms making eye contact with the guy with the gun. "Let them go."

Laughing, the man holding Kagome tightened his hold on her as he held Itachi's gaze. "What you going to do about it big shot? We got plans for these here ladies. You can have her back when we are done playing with her."

His eyes narrowed Itachi glared harder. "Let her go or you will die."

Kagome was shaking as she looked at him. Her eyes pleading to help her. "Itachi…please."


	19. Chapter 19

Itachi nodded then turned his attention back to the scum that was holding her. "This is your last chance. Let them go. If you do not, you will suffer."

With a laugh, the guy pressed his knife harder against Kagome's neck and smiled as the rage soared in this guys eyes as he tried to slip his hand under the girls shirt. "It's alright. We done said we don't wanna kill them. Just have some fun with them. Once we are done you can have her back. More experienced than ever before."

Kagome was trying to stop his hand as it inched closer to her chest. "Itachi!"

The desperation and the rage he felt, Itachi narrowed his eyes. "You caused this to happen." Then in a flash, he was gone, then reappearing back where he was, but with his back to the men as they fell to the ground with wide shocked eyes. Both Kagome and the other woman in his arms.

He let go of the other woman and started to turn to Kagome but then glared as she jumped on his back. "Can I help you with something?"

Kaoru Sukoshi smiled as she winked at him. "I knew you were perfect for me the second that I saw you walk in the store. Come with me and all your dreams will come true. After all I know you like me."

"What?"

"You wouldn't have saved me if you didn't."

Shrugging a now shocked Kaoru off of his back, Itachi lifted a sobbing Kagome into his arms and sighed as she latched her arms around his neck. "You're living in a distorted illusion. You mean nothing to me."

With wide eyes Kaoru gawked at him. "You are taking someone as poor as she is over me!? Are you kidding me!"

Turning his head with a cold glare Itachi let out a growling sound. "If this hasn't made it clear, she is the one I care about. You will never be anything to me. Get lost."

With a glare Kaoru stomped her feet and then stormed off. "I will get you for this. Watch and see."

Turning his head back to Kagome Itachi sighed. "Kagome?"

Still sobbing Kagome shook like a leaf as she clung to him. "I just want to go home."

"As you wish." Then he left the store and headed back toward where they dropped Sota off. Remembering that they had to get him on the way home. He was then going to take her home, where he knew they should stay for a few days. And it was clear, that he would need help in training her. Her lack in experience would have been her downfall today had he not been there with her.

X

Sota was sitting on the steps of the apartment building where his friend lived when he saw Itachi carrying Kagome toward him. When they got closer and he could see her shaking he gasped as he ran out to greet them. "What happened sis? What's wrong?"

Itachi shook his head down at the boy at his side. "I will explain everything once when we get back. She had a near bad experience shopping today."

His eyes never leaving his sister Sota nodded. "Did she get hurt?"

"Not with me there."

"Good."

X

By the time they reached Kagome's she has cried herself to sleep in Itachi's arms. He carried her upstairs to her room, then went downstairs where her mother, brother and grandfather were all waiting with worried looks. He sighed as he stood at the bottom of the steps. "Long story short, we were just about done at the store with your list when she left me at the line to get something. Two guys thought they were going to take her to 'have some fun' with her. I knocked them out and got her and another girl free and we came home."

Sora's throat constricted as she looked past him. "Oh my little girl."

Stepping to the side Itachi watched as Sora ran up to Kagome's room. He then heard a sniff and turned to see Sota standing there on the verge of tears. "Sota?"

"Thank you Itachi. For saving her. I want to be able to protect her. I want to be stronger like you and Inuyasha but I just can't!"

With a soft smile Itachi saw what was happening to this child, was what also happened to his brother thanks to Danzo. Growing up way before he was supposed to. He walked on down the stairs and knelt before him. "You know there are children where I come from, that can be smaller than you and stronger than me. They just need the right training. Your sister and I have something we need to take care of. After that, I promise to come back and train you. Okay?"

Sota was looking at him with wide eyes. "Really? You would?"

Itachi nodded as he stood up. "I will."

Though before anyone could say or do anything else there was a knock on the door. Grandpa went and opened it. "Yes can I help you sir?"

Kou Sukoshi stood there with his hands behind his back. "Hello sir. My name is Kou Sukoshi. I am here looking for the one known as Itachi?"

Itachi walked up behind the old man with a glare on his face. "I am Itachi. Itachi Uchiha."

Stretching his arm out Kou smiled. "I wanted to come by personally and thank you for rescuing my daughter today at the grocery store. You have my gratitude and I have also come to offer you something to show my eternal thanks."

"What is that?"

Stepping to the side, Kou revealed Kaoru, his daughter. "I am offering for you to marry my daughter. I know she is only seventeen , but I am willing to sign for it so the two of you can wed. With you I know my daughter will always be safe."

Itachi sighed as he crossed his arms. "I already told your daughter no at the grocery store. Having you offer her to me as a bride will not work."

Trying to keep his smile Kou sighed. "My boy, this is a offer of a life time. Any man would consider himself lucky to have my daughter hanging off his arm. She is the heiress to the Sukoshi Hotel Chain. She is worth millions as she is now. When I die she will be worth billions."

Refusing to even look this oaf in the eye Itachi sighed. "I will not marry someone just to gain social status. I will marry the person whom I am in love with. Be it we live in a shrine or a mansion it doesn't matter to me. Your daughter is rude, arrogant, and conceded. The woman I am in love with is nothing like that. She puts others first and foremost than herself. Maybe if she was brought down a few notches and had to learn what it was like to work for a living or have nothing she might find a good guy. But I am taken. I bid you good night." He then shut the door and turned to head back to Kagome. "Bastard."

X

Kagome looked up as the door opened. Her window was open and she heard everything that both he said and that other girls father. She let tears fall from her eyes as she rushed the bed and threw herself into his arms. Another torrent of sobs coming from her as she clung to him.

Itachi looked at Kagome then up to her mother as she walked past him. The question in his eyes was clear. What was wrong with her this time.

Sora smiled. "She heard the conversation through her open window. She heard what you said."

Itachi sighed as he lifted her and went to the bed. He sat her on the bed, then sat on it himself as she fell over and laid her head in his lap, holding onto the shirt he wore for dear life. "It is okay."

Tears still streaming she shook her head. "It isn't. I saw what he was doing. I knew what was coming, but then I saw the knife and I froze. I was so scared. I can't be like that if we get to your time."

"You will be at first. But your training just needs to be stepped up is all. Sasuke will help us with that I am sure."

"Did you really mean what you said to that guy Itachi?"

"Huh?"

"About the person you want to marry?"

Making her look up at him Itachi smiled. "You are everything that any guy in his right mind would want to have. And I have every intention on changing your name to Uchiha."

Kagome smiled as she snuggled in close to him. Her tears finally slowing to a stop. "I love you Itachi."

"I love you." Itachi then smiled as he pictured a life with her in his future. A life full of love, and children. 'More than you will ever know itoushii. I love you with everything I have, and will until my dying breath.'


	20. Chapter 20

It took Kagome more than a few days to get over what nearly happened to her. And now after two weeks she was back to normal. She and Itachi stood next to the well, holding hands. This time there was one thing different. She was seventeen, almost eighteen. By the time that they were able to get everything taken care of, she would be eighteen. But with the relationship that they clearly had for each other, her mother signed the papers. She was now Kagome Uchiha. Proud wife of Itachi Uchiha.

Though, at least until they figured out a way to leave his time to get back to either hers or Sango's, they have put the honeymoon on hold. She looked up at him and smiled brightly. "Ready?"

Nodding as he smiled down at her Itachi sighed. Smiling seemed to be second nature again. Just like it was when Sasuke was young. "Are you? The chances of going to my time are high."

Nodding as she squeezed her hand Kagome giggled. "My barriers can withstand your full fireballs now. And can even block your Tsukuyomi. And with the way we were bound together, we will be able to prove it to everyone."

"Hai. Shall we then?"

"Yep."

Itachi then lifted her into his arms and jumped through the well. Though, for this trip, he was back in his shinobi clothes, and she was in jeans and a tank. Just in case they did come across Jiraiya. Though the light that awaited them was not blue, but black. "Here we go."

Kagome gulped as she clung to him when they went through the light. She let her eyes dart everywhere as a number of portals showed up. "Yep this never happened before."

Itachi glared as he held on tight to her. "This has to be it. We are going to my time."

Her arms locked around his neck as she nodded with her wide eyes. "There are so many portals. Let's just hope that we don't get separated. I don't know how I would make it without you."

"You will stay with me."

Then Kagome let out a scream as they were sucked through a portal and found herself holding onto Itachi as they fell from the sky. She looked up and gasped. "The portal is gone! We can't go back through the sky!"

Itachi did not say anything. Instead he focused on where they were. Right on the border between the lands of Wind and Fire. Not ideal for him, since the Sand and the Leaf were allies now. "Soon as we land, you need to get on my back and hang on. Alright."

"Got it." Though she honestly didn't think they would live through the fall. Then she was suddenly on the ground with him. She looked up at him and blinked. "Being in your time must have made you faster. I didn't even feel you move."

Nodding Itachi turned so she could get on his back. "Just like I told you before we left. We are headed straight for the Leaf. You however will have to have your barrier up soon as we start getting close."

"And you need to tell me when to put it up."

Nodding as she jumped up and hung from his shoulders, he wrapped his arms around her knees and then took off for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He knew it was going to be trouble when he got there. And only hoped that the connection that he had with Kagome would be enough to prove to them what was going on.

X

Walking with Sai, Sakura and Kakashi back toward the village, Naruto was unusually quiet. It has been a few months now and nothing from Itachi, Orochimaru and Sasuke. He knew they were up to something, he just didn't know what.

Looking back at him, Sakura sighed. "Naruto you haven't said hardly a word all day. What's up?"

Stopping and looking down with crossed arms Naruto sighed. In the last year, he has come a long way since he got to see and talk to both his mother and father and found out exactly who he was. He now was a Jonin, along with Sai, Sakura and Kakashi. And his maturity level had gone through the roof as well. "I don't know Sakura. It is just that it has been months since anyone heard anything from anyone. It is like they all just vanished."

"Naruto."

Every stopped and turned to stare at Itachi as he landed a few feet behind Naruto. Naruto hardened his eyes as he turned and glared into the cold black eyes of the source of so much pain in his life and those he cares about most. "Itachi. What are you doing here?"

"You are no longer a target. Sasuke knows the full truth now and will be joining the Leaf as a comrade once again soon."

Naruto arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "What?"

His eyes just as hard Itachi sighed. "I can show you. Or rather I will show Kakashi and he can tell you what he sees is truth. Kakashi being in possession of the Mongekyo Sharingan as Sasuke and I knows I can only show him truths that truly happened in my past. It is a truth that I have shown Sasuke. He will return to the leaf and destroy the one who was the cause of the destruction of our clan."

Taking up a defensive posture Naruto glared harder. "You really expect me to take that as anything to do with the truth! You killed your own clan! What truth could you possibly have to show otherwise?"

"No fighting! Geese."

Everyone save Itachi gasped and went wide eyed as Kagome walked from behind Itachi. She crossed her arms as she stopped just in front of him. "How about you hear a whole story before you make assumptions."

Blinking Naruto kept his posture. "Who are you?"

Kagome sighed as she dropped her head. "My name is Kagome Uchiha." A smile crossing her face as Itachi's arm reached out and snagged her by her waist and pulled her back to settle against him. "How that became my last name is a long story. We will tell you guys but you have to swear that you won't try and hurt him or separate us. Okay?"

Itachi glared around. "Barrier."

Kagome sighed as instantly just before a barrage of shuriken were able to strike, a pink barrier went up around them and then bounced off of it. "You know you can't kill him right now."

Naruto glared. "I don't know what he did to make you think he is a good guy but he isn't. I know he brain washed you somehow and we can figure out a way to undo it. But with everything he has done, death is his only option. Especially so blazingly coming back to the village like this."

"Figure out a way to undo it?"

Sakura glared past the woman to Itachi. "That's right. You know what he has done right?"

"I also know the truth behind it!"

With a sigh Sakura stood straight. "Then there is a brain wash in place. Prolly some jutsu that either I or Lady Tsunade can break. First we have to get you away from him. That barrier is coming down."

Kagome crossed her arms as her own body started to glow pink as well with annoyance. "IF you think you can break my barrier then go ahead and try it. But if you can't, will everyone just give us two damn seconds and let us show you what we are talking about? You should really know all the facts before you act."

Sakura closed her eyes as focused all her strength and every ounce of chakra that she had into her right hand. "Fine. But I know I will break the barrier now!" Then she jumped in the air and came down fast at the barrier, slamming her fist in it and sending shock waves through the forest and the village. But not so much as a crack in it.

Falling back to stand with Kakashi she was wide eyed. "That breaks through even Orochimaru's barriers I don't get it."

Kagome sighed as she wiggled free of his grip and dropped her pack to the ground. "Orochimaru is why I am with him in a sense. I will tell the full story later, but right now you need to know that if you kill him, you will kill me too and that aint cool."

"How is that?"

Standing up with a needle she sighed as Itach held up his right hand. "Orochimaru sent him to a different time. If they are back here we don't know yet. And Sasuke. They used a jutsu that bound us together, to the point where if it happens to him it happens to me and vice versa. Watch." Then she pricked her finger with her needle, and dropped her head at the collected gasps when Itachi's finger showed blood just like hers. "Is everyone going to do that?"

Nodding as he put his arm back around her waist Itachi turned toward the gate. "Tsunade."

Tsunade had not said anything as she stood there and watched. Itachi was strong enough as a teenager to totally wipe out the second strongest clan that the Leaf has ever known. The Senju being the only one that was stronger. She listened as she watched what happened between Itachi and the girl who claimed her last name was Uchiha. Once she saw the proof in their hands she stomped the ground. "That is enough. Every Leaf Shinobi is to go back to whatever they were doing. Itachi, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi you all come with me."

Naruto gawked at her. "But he is…"

"Not someone we can kill now if we don't want to kill her. I have seen that jutsu one other time before. And I want to know what 'truth' he is talking about." Then she turned and headed back in the village. "Shizune!"

"Here My Lady!"

"Get Inoichi. His jutsu doesn't have the affects that the Sharingan does. And is just as effective."

Looking over her shoulder at Itachi, Kagome was still nervous. "Let it down?"

Nodding he then started to walk with her. Tsunade in front of them, the others behind them. "She is the leader of the village, everyone has to listen to her. And would be a fool not too."

Tsunade glanced back at the way she clung to him and the hold on her waist. Her eyes flickered up to his eyes and for the first time in all the times she had seen him after the fact, had true emotions as he looked at her. 'That's interesting.'


End file.
